The Huntress
by AThoth
Summary: An epic in seven parts about Samus' adventures after the events of Super Metroid. Some harsh language/themes. An edit/remake of an old fic not on this site. Updating depends on editing speed, probably once a week. Probably will move up to M later on.
1. Uprising: Darryl

The Huntress:

Prologue: Uprising

By: xGieGiex

_Editor's Note: I did not make this story I have only revised it quickly for spelling and punctuation, otherwise it remains (mostly) in the original context. The author of this story created it and disappeared, like a one hit wonder, so under the aforementioned conditions I have decided to submit it because it is better than much of the junk on this site and it would be better off this way rather than collecting dust. __Thanks for reading and enjoy "Uprising"! __Please review. _

_Thoth_

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** Darryl**

The trees moved quickly from side to side while the man rustled through them frantically. He was sure he would lose it in this dense jungle but somehow he'd been found, and now he was running for his life, running in fear of the thing following him. No one had ever found him here, NO ONE, and he was so shocked that someone or something finally had that he didn't know what to do.

Darryl Lonson was from the Planet Alaron VI, standing at 7 feet with skin of a deep orange-reddish hue and long hair to match. His eyes were yellow and he sported a few nose rings, which in the society on Alaron meant he was a grown man.

For several years now he'd had several bounties on his head because of the illegal things he'd done. He'd stolen money, raped and abused women, and had even killed children if it meant getting his way. Once he'd killed a woman's young son to get her to cooperate with him and give him what he wanted. Darryl was an unscrupulous man, who cared for no one but himself, and the frightening thing was he'd gotten away with what he'd done; he was equipped well enough to do as he pleased when he pleased without any consequences. People heard his name and shuddered, that was how well he'd become at taking what he wanted. No one would stand up too him, no one, that's how scared of him everyone was.

That's also why he'd never been caught on a bounty. Many had tried to find him, but he was far too good at hiding. Also, he'd killed many of the hunters that had come after him, and because of this, it was hard to find anyone to take the job.

Darryl lived on a planet in the Lavidia system called Narceon. It was a primalistic planet without many civilized territories because of the fierce creatures that roamed its surface. It was mostly a humid jungle without much open space, and therefore it was an ideal location for someone such as Darryl Lonson to hide when the going got rough.

He had no idea what this thing was chasing him now, he only knew that it had been able to get the drop on him while he was minding his own business near his ship, and beat the hell out of him until he was able to free himself from its grasp and run off into the jungles. His heart hammered inside his chest as he wiped the blood from his nose and mouth, a crack in the skin on his forehead also trickled the dark green blood.

All he knew was that he'd been grabbed from behind and pushed forward into his ships hull, which caused him to injure his forehead, then he was swung around and in his blurred vision he saw in the darkness something which looked to be a soft green glow, menacing, before a fist hit his nose, hard, encased in metal. His head jolted back with a hard force, whatever this thing was, it was strong. Then it hit him again, and Darryl could feel some of his teeth loosen, even fall out of his mouth.

From there, he'd fallen back, and slowly pushed himself over, getting to his knees before something rammed into his side hard, breaking one of his ribs. He had to get out of there. Despite the pain he felt, his adrenaline kicked in and he got up, running away as quickly as possible through the dense trees, trying to see the best he could in his frantic state. He tripped over a high laying root of a tree and fell, looking back as he continued to work his was back to his feet and though he didn't see anything behind him, he wasn't going to stop, not yet.

He knew there was a cliff ahead that he could jump off of and into a large lake below. That should hide his tracks well enough until he could hide himself properly from this thing chasing him.

As he got closer to it, he tripped once again, this time over a rock and flipped forward, sliding down a slope and off the edge of the cliff he knew was there. He tried to stifle a yell, and went down swiftly, crashing into the water and trying his best to stay above the surface, letting the current sweep him towards the passage into the river where he would work his way out.

Now he felt safe...for the time...

The metal boot fell to the ground with a heavy thud, followed directly by the knee. The metal was an orangish yellow color, and at the top of the boot near the knee the metal came into a long point. On the sides of the calves were dimly glowing green lights, and a left hand came down into the soil slowly, moving the metal covered fingers through the soil, grasping it, and pulling a handful of it up. Then the movement stopped as in the distance could be heard more shuffling and a slight cry that faded out as soon as it started. After the sound dyed out, there seemed to be a loud splash of water but it was blended into the sound of a roaring waterfall. As soon as it was quiet again, the hand moved forward and held out the dirt to be scanned.

Several scans from behind a visor drew out points in the soil, scattered about, that contained DNA traces. The computer listed what these scans showed and began to match up the DNA to that of an Alaronite. Lonson had definitely come this way.

The knee pushed off the ground and the boots moved forward quietly, stepping over roots and stones until they reached a slope, and they stopped.

The tall being stood there looking towards the waterfall ahead which roared loudly, and down into the lake below, seeing it turned off into a river at a certain point. The red chest plate moved out some, and the sound of air hissed from the vents below the dimly glowing green visor of the being that looked upon it.

The helmet moved to one side slowly, and then back, before it turned away completely and walked off.

Darryl floated through the water slowly and reached out, grabbing a tree branch that was dipping down into the water from a tree that had fallen over long ago. He grunted and pulled himself up, crawling onto land and looking around to get his bearings. He'd let himself drift for a while before he'd finally pulled himself from the water, and once he saw that no one was around he closed his eyes and laid his head back on the soil, attempting to rest for a minute and come up with his next plan of action.

As soon as he did so, an arm came down and grabbed the clothing on his shoulder, pulling him forward, his face meeting that of a glowing green visor, the same visor he'd seen before.

"Peek-a-boo," came a warped mechanical voice, and Darryl gasped, grabbing the hand to remove it from his shoulder. His other hand went to his side to grab the blaster there, but before he could complete his actions he found the end of a cannon directly held into his face.

Darryl held up both his hands and the being before him let go of his shoulder, reaching to his side and grabbing the blaster. Holding it up before Darryl's face, the hand crushed the end of it and threw it to the side. "What are you," Darryl asked loudly, breathing heavily.

Long moments of silence passed while he listened to the air hissing from the vents of the helmet so deadly close to his face now. "I was sent by a woman you beat and raped. You also killed her son and took all the valuable belongings she possessed. Do you know who I'm speaking of?"

"I'm not sure," Darryl said, and a metal fist rammed into his cheek, knocking more of his teeth out. He spit out the blood and teeth, groaning in pain.

"Does that jog your memory?" asked the warped voice.

"Yes, it does," he said in anguish. "Damn you, you knocked out my teeth!"

The fist grabbed his shoulder and he found the cannon being rammed into his chest. Falling back and gasping for breath he heard, "Don't talk unless I say so, you're going to be missing more than teeth when I'm done with you."

"Y-yes sir," Darryl said very quietly.

Then the being stood up, and leaned down, grabbing Darryl's shirt once again and it began dragging him across the ground towards a tree. Darryl stayed quiet as it stopped and let go, then spoke, "Get up."

Darryl worked his way to his feet slowly, and in a frightened voice asked, "What are you going to do to me?"

"I wasn't paid to kill you," it replied, "But for what I was paid to do, you'll be begging me to kill you before it's over with."

He watched the being stalk by him slowly, watching him constantly. Darryl gasped out, leaning against the tree as all he felt like doing was laying down now. He knew he had a fractured sternum from the blow he'd received to his chest just now, and he could barely manage to stand there on his own. "What were you paid to do?"

The look of fear in his eyes, despite his past, was one that would make anyone's heart well with pity, maybe even forgiveness of what he'd done. But the cold metal clad hunter before him didn't give him an inch, not even a second thought, and what followed the question he asked, an answer without words, was too gory for any normal person to want to see or know.

Besides having his head rammed into the tree several times, being nearly strangled and having his leg held out only to be broken in half by a heavily armored arm, what the final thing that was done to Darryl could not compare with the rest. Precautions were taken to keep Darryl awake as well and not let him be rendered unconscious.

Darryl wanted to scream, thought he was, but the pain he felt was so excruciating he had no idea if he did or not.

The hunter knew though, and thought he sounded like a pitiful child wailing while he slumped over. "That's what I was paid to do, along with the beatings I've given you, which to say the least are nothing compared to what I could've done." The armored hunter stopped for a moment before it stepped away from the man writhing in agony on the ground, and then said, "The animals will smell your blood soon enough and come to finish you off."

"No," Darryl cried out, "Please, don't leave me here! Kill me first please! I can't live like this! Don't let them get me!"

The being continued off then, leaving the begging, ruined man on the ground. The hunter had done what it was paid for, and now it would leave to collect on its final pay. It felt no remorse or pity for the man it left behind, only cared for what its job was and to see to it that it was completed.

A day later in a busy pub on a planet named Aines; word had spread quickly of Darryl Lonson's death. Many of the men he knew couldn't believe he'd actually been caught and killed on a bounty, and no one knew who the hunter was that had completed the task, but many had an idea on who'd given the bounty.

Garret was a simple man who only cared for two things. Seeing that his family was taken care of and making sure he personally could provide for them. Living on a planet known for it's seedy people and activities didn't make that an easy task, especially when his sister was violated and his nephew was killed. So he'd taken out a bounty on the man who'd done it, offering to pay whatever the hunter wanted in return for disposing of him. He was disheartened that no one would take the bounty at first until someone he'd never seen had come along.

This metal clad bounty hunter not only seemed like he could get the job done, but also that he could probably wipe out an entire army if he set his mind to it, and Garret was relieved when he accepted the job.

As Garret walked into the pub silently to have a seat in his usual spot, and get his usual drink, he couldn't help a small smirk, though he tried to hide it from view of others because of what he was smirking about. Darryl Lonson had gotten what he deserved.

"Garret," he heard another mans voice. Garret sighed softly and looked back, seeing another regular of the tavern approaching him.

"Can I help you?" Garret asked quietly, scratching his brown beard a little.

"Yeah, you can help me, and my friends."

Before Garret knew what was happening, he was surrounded by several men, all of them looking as if they were severely angry over something. The one who'd originally approached him grabbed his shoulders and lifted him into the air, as Garret was a skinny man at best, and didn't weigh all that much. "Who'd you hire to kill my friend asshole?"

Garret blinked a few times, and said, "I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have any money to hire someone, and you know that, but if I did have it, I sure as hell would have!"

"Don't lie to me boy," the man snarled, "That just makes me even angrier."

Many people around the bar knew Garret and each other, which is why the man had called his name in the first place. Garret had seen him several times himself, but he didn't know exactly what his name was. Nor did he know that he was Darryl Lonson's friend. "Like I said, I don't know what you're talking about."

One of the other men pulled out a blaster and held it at his head, while the man holding him asked again, "You remember anything now, or are we going to have to beat it out of you?"

The armor clad hunter had been sitting quietly in the back of the room. Everyone had gotten quiet to see what would happen between Garret and the others, and now even less people were paying any attention to the hunter. Garret hadn't even noticed the hunter himself, he was too busy trying to figure a way out of this mess without revealing he'd been the one to give the bounty.

"Time's up," the one holding Garret in the air said, "Now you're going to..."

Before he could finish, he saw Garrets eyes move behind him and to someone standing there. So he lowered Garret, yet still held onto him, and looked back. Standing there, very close to him, was the armored clad hunter, the glowing green visor seeming to stare at him menacingly.

"What the hell do you want?"

The hunter was silent.

"Are you deaf? I said," and before he could finish, a hand gripped his throat and lifted him into the air. The hunter held him there, and the others backed away. One of them foolishly fired off their blaster, which hit the hunter's leg, but was reflected off of it. The hunter looked at him and lifted the cannon on its right arm, firing a powerful blast which knocked the man over halfway across the bar. He landed on some tables, breaking them, and though he wasn't dead, yet, he was rendered unconscious.

Then the hunter looked back at the man held in the air with one arm alone and aimed the cannon at his head. The man sniveled, gasping out the words in a choked voice, "What do you want!"

Garret had slipped away and watched the scene from behind the hunter now. Then he heard the warped voice the hunter possessed saying, "I want you to tell all your so-called friends that I am the one who killed Darryl Lonson. My name is Samus Aran."

The man couldn't reply the grip on his throat was too strong. After the hunter was satisfied the man would do as he was told, the left arm holding him was pulled back and he was thrown across the bar, hitting the wall hard. He gasped for breath, still choking, and the hunter named Samus Aran turned away from him, not sparing him a second glance.

Garret watched and said, "Thank you so much."

"I didn't do it for you," the hunter replied, and left the tavern.

Samus had followed Garret to the bar for a reason; Darryl Lonson had friends and they would most certainly try to confront him. Once they did, Samus would intervene and tell them who'd killed their friend, and they would spread the name further than it had previously been known. So simply put, Samus Aran was getting some exposure.


	2. Del

**Del**

The room was filled with loud music and boisterous laughter, as well as talking and such, though it was more like shouting because of everything going on. It was a busy pub, located on a public space station orbiting a very small planet in the Margides system. The pub, named Lunar's Lounge by the regulars that frequented it, not only served the best drinks in the galaxy, but also hosted a variety of games and of course, casino's.

Del Gregir, a man who had a short temper when things didn't go his way, sat in a room overlooking the bar area, where men and women flirted and drank, and the band played a futuristic style of heavy metal music. Del owned this pub, and had become a wealthy man because of it. He sat behind a large window overlooking the pub below, which was typically a large one way mirror. There were others in the room with him, chatting amongst themselves, until he asked, "Has there been any word from our employee?"

Everyone shut up. The pale skinned, long dark haired man turned around in his seat, rubbing his fingers together slowly. One of the other men in the room, a Margadian which was a species who were about 4 foot tall and had green skin and yellow eyes with a human like body replied, "No, we've heard nothing and as well we know the bounty hasn't been completed yet."

Del had hired a bounty hunter to destroy files on Lunar's Lounge that detailed the more secretive things Del had been operating there. To make a long story short, Del Gregir loved weapons, all kinds of weapons, and he'd been operating secretly to harvest illegal weapons and sell weapons illegally as well. The Galactic Police had been investigating and so Del had issued a bounty of 10,000 credits to any hunter capable of completing this job. Once the files were destroyed, the investigation would have to be started over and that would give Del plenty of time to hide his tracks better.

Del drew up his lips in a sneer, a look his friends knew he got when he was about to become angry with something. "It's been a week. Why hasn't it been completed yet? And why haven't we heard from our employee?"

The Margadian shook his head, "The truth is we can't locate the bounty hunter you hired. You knew yourself when you hired him that he was the best of the best, and so I don't think he would want to be bothered while he was on a mission, which makes it difficult for us to locate him."

Del rammed his fist down onto the table top. "I don't give a damn what this hunter wants, he works for me and like any boss, when you don't report to work, you don't get to work, so like it or not this hunter is, for lack of a better word, fired."

"A good decision," the Margadian agreed. "I will advise however that if the hunter returns, he may become a bit upset."

"Then he'll have to deal with it in his own way."

Silence prevailed in the room and everyone returned to what they'd previously been doing.

She sat at the bar silently. Wearing a crimson colored body suit with a long black trench coat and a pair of shades on her eyes that were a dark red in color while the strobe lights flashed, reflecting off of them, she pushed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. For a while she'd been eyeing the room above the pub even though all she could see was a reflection of the room below, but she knew the owner sat in there, and in a moment she'd be going to see him.

She took a long swig of her drink, finishing off its contents when a guy walked up behind her, "Hey baby, what's going on?"

She ignored him and sat the now empty glass down. The music had gotten soft enough to hear, and the man knew she had heard him.

"I said, what's going on," he repeated, and reached out to touch her shoulder while she wasn't looking.

"Don't touch me unless you're left handed," she spoke.

He was surprised at how she knew he was reaching for her, stopping his right hand in midair and pulling it back. "Why's that?"

"Because you won't have a right hand to use anymore if you touch me."

The man blinked for a moment and then held both his hands up, backing away, "Fair enough," then he shook his head and left.

The bar tender heard what had gone on and he grinned some, "My kind of woman."

The woman smirked and turned her back to the bar, watching the room again. It was time to go up and see Del Gregir.

The woman was escorted in without much trouble. Especially when she told them that she knew the location of the bounty hunter and had been sent to give a progress report on the bounty being pursued.

The Margadian that had been speaking with Del earlier escorted her in and he said, "Sir, this is Rilana Morine. She says she's come to give a progress report on the hunter we hired and she will only speak to you."

Del turned around in his chair slowly and looked at the sandy blonde haired woman standing before him wearing the long trench coat. This was probably the bounty hunters woman. "Good evening Ms Morine. I have to say I'm disappointed that Aran couldn't make it himself to give me a progress report."

He motioned for her to sit down but she declined and instead leaned against the back of the chair facing him. She didn't smile or make any outwards gestures to him. In fact she remained quiet for several long moments before she started speaking. "Well he's a very busy man."

"Indeed. He's not that well known as of yet in this part of the universe, but soon I'm sure his name will be all over the galaxy."

Again she didn't make any comment or expressions on his words. What a pompous man. His demeanor alone set him off from others that he was not a person to be trusted or to be let lose in any type of civilized society. She only wondered why no one else knew that. Laws, she thought. The reason he had been given freedom was because the law had to find him guilty of crimes he'd committed, the law had to work out first.

If Samus had it her way however she would put him in jail simply because of the way he was looking at her. She'd come here tonight under the false pretenses of being some woman named Rilana Morine, but she was indeed the bounty hunter he'd hired a week ago. The reason he didn't know it was the same person, or even that he was actually a she, was because of an advanced piece of armored technology she wore called the power suit. It not only disguised her true identity, but it also gave her much added strength as well as protection, enhanced vision, and one of her favorite things, was equipped with a powerful cannon arm built onto the right arm of her suit.

This was not the first bounty Samus had taken by far. She'd done plenty of things for plenty of employers, some of which she'd killed after she'd received her pay because there was a bounty on their heads as well. This bounty had been a rather interesting one however.

Samus had found out many, many things about the man sitting before her now. She'd found out he was, despite the lack of a better word, ignorant to the way the Galactic Police worked. Therefore he'd been very sloppy about his dealings in illegal weapons, and the files Samus had found and copied were to say the least far more detailed than she was sure Del wanted them to be.

"That is of no consequence," Samus said. "What is, however, is the report I'm going to give you. Now either shut up and listen or I'll break your neck, understood?"

Del was somewhat surprised. A little girl who wanted to play rough? He grinned, "Well then, proceed Ms Morine."

Samus continued, still pretending that she was this Rilana person, "Samus has found all the files you've wanted to be destroyed, yet he's hesitated simply because of the amount of information on them. Simply put, Mr. Gregir," she said the name sarcastically, "Your ass has been pegged."

Del raised an eyebrow. Samus pulled a chip out of her trench coat then and placed it on the desk. "Look at it. There's all the information the Galactic Police have on you now."

Del reached forward and inserted the chip into a computer sitting on his black desk. As he did so, Samus said, "When you make your next weapons pick up tomorrow night, you'd best be wary of the ones supplying them."

Del had a very surprised look on his face. "This is good," he spoke, "However, Rilana, Aran must not care for you very much, or he's incredibly stupid because I know he knows the codes of a hunter, codes they follow very closely to keep themselves from being found, and simply put, that is to make all important interactions with employers themselves."

"Get to the goddamn point," Samus interrupted him. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Well, since he's not here to give me this information himself, and I do not know you, he won't get his pay, I can't trust you, and therefore I think I should just kill you."

Samus rolled her eyes behind the dark red shades she wore and said, "Oh, is that all?"

The margadian standing at the door moved to pull out his weapon, but before he could get his hand on it, Samus threw her trench coat to the side, grabbed the rather large energy rifle that was holstered on her hip, and aimed it at him. He held his hands up in the air.

"There's something else you should know Del," Samus spoke then.

Del sighed softly, "And what is that?"

"Samus also found out there's quite a large bounty on your head; so needless to say, he'll be coming for you next."

Del grumbled and stood up. Samus pulled the other weapon off her opposite hip and aimed it at him as well. The energy pistol charged up and she said, "Don't move or I'll take you out and claim the bounty myself."

"Why not?" Del asked.

"I didn't want to deprive Samus of using his cannon on you."

Del nodded slowly, and his eyes went to the right, behind Samus, who had both her weapons in her hands aimed out, one at Del and one at the Margadian. When his eyes went behind him, Samus sighed softly, hearing a weapon charging up at the back of her head.

"Drop your weapons woman."

Samus rolled her eyes a little and let go of the weapons while Del chuckled and walked towards her, leaning down and picking the weapons up. "These are nice. If I'm not mistake, this type of energy rifle, a 54-37S, is illegal? How much did you pay for it?"

"250 credits," Samus responded, as if she were taking a walk in the park with him.

"Oh, you should've come to me. I sell them for about half that."

Samus leaned in closer to him, "It's ok, you see, I souped that one up to get my money's worth."

Del looked it over and noticed what she'd done to it, adding 2 more beam settings, one which was strong enough to kill with one blast. He nodded and looked at her, "I'm impressed. Such a shame you can't put your talents to better use."

"Just out of curiosity, how long have you been smuggling illegal weapons anyway?" Samus asked in a semi-curious manner.

Del smirked a bit, "I wouldn't call it smuggling, it's more of a trade than smuggling, but for perhaps 5 years now," he replied. "Does that answer your question?"

Samus tilted her head to the side in a small nod, "You must be good at it then since you've only just now been pegged."

Del raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything further. Then he looked at the man standing behind her, "Dispose of her," he said and started to walk to the door. "I'll be looking forward to seeing Samus Aran again, it should be interesting."

Samus raised a brow and watched him walk out, then heard the man behind her saying, "Good night sweetheart."

"Goodnight indeed," Samus replied, and faster than he could keep track of she moved to the side before he could fire his weapon and grabbed it, then grabbed the back of his head, ramming it into the hard metal of the weapon he held. His grip losened and Samus pulled the blaster away, turning around and shooting at the Margadian standing at the door who'd just turned around and pulled his weapon, while she walked nonchalantly towards the desk Del had been sitting at.

After the Margadian drew his last breath and fell to the floor, Samus reached out for the chip she'd given to Del and put it back in her pocket.

The man she'd hit in the head shook it off and came towards her then. She aimed her weapon and he stopped.

He stared at her, wondering if she was going to fire, feeling fear welling up inside him. Samus just grinned and lowered it, and he took a long breath, sighing in relief.

Then Samus shook her head and aimed once more, firing while he held his hands up as if to beg her not to. The blue blast of energy hit him in the chest, and he fell backwards onto the floor. Samus shot again to finish him off.

"That's the bad thing about women, we have a lot of mood swings," she muttered to the now dead man laying there. Then she started to hack into the computer to pull up Del's accounts.

She'd found his codes before she'd come to "see" him, and as she hacked into his account, she used them to authorize a sizable money transaction into her own accounts. "You're going to pay me one way or the other," she mumbled.

After she was done taking what she pleased from him, she walked towards the doors, picking her weapons up and putting them back in their holsters on the way.

Just then they opened and about 10 men, all armed, came into the room. "There she is," one of them yelled, and Samus figured there was probably some type of surveillance device hidden somewhere in the room.

Samus just smiled at them and then took off towards the window that overlooked the bar area below. "Hold your fire!" The same man yelled as they aimed. He didn't want any suspicion drawn to them from anyone by shooting at someone.

Then Samus jumped towards the window, shielding her face as it broke and the glass fell to the floor below, people screaming and running away. The band stopped playing.

Samus fell towards the floor, her feet drawn under her as she landed and rolled to the side. Then she pushed herself up quickly and looked back up at the window, seeing the men looking down on her.

"Go get her," the leader said and pushed one of them down. Samus watched him flip onto his back falling through the air and land, cringing when he did so. Then she shook her head and took off towards the exit, seeing 5 police officers at the other end of the corridor. Looking back, she saw Del Gregir's flunkies coming from the bar.

The police were running towards the bar, and when the flunkies that were chasing Samus saw them, they slid to a stop.

Samus knew more police would be on the way now, and she started to get an idea for how to get out of there without getting caught. There was an alert on the station now, and no doubt everyone was going to be questioned as to what happened.

Two of the police stopped while the others ran into the bar area, and one of them said, "What happened?"

"This woman killed two of my friends, sir," the thug leader spoke.

Samus pointed at herself. "Me? I'm afraid you've been mistaken. Officer, all I know is that I was standing in the bar and suddenly, the window broke because he threw a man out of it. Go in there; you'll see him on the floor."

The officer looked up and contacted the police in the bar area, "Is there a man lying on the floor?"

"Yes, and he's been badly injured. It looks like he's taken a nasty fall."

The officers looked up and they started to arrest the one who'd been leading the group chasing Samus. "Look upstairs!" He yelled, "You'll find two more bodies with energy burns on them!"

"That's enough for now, don't worry, we're taking her into custody for questioning too."

The other officer began to escort Samus, who was pretending to be upset, down the corridor. "I don't know what he's talking about, I swear!"

"It's alright Miss. We'll find out what's going on, don't worry."

Samus nodded slowly and looked down at his belt, seeing the shocker he had which was used to render violent suspects unconscious.

After they boarded the elevator shaft Samus looked at the policeman and smiled sweetly, "Thank you so much for your kindness. I was just trying to have some fun tonight and suddenly this happened. I have no clue what that man was ranting about."

The policeman returned the smile. He was relatively young, maybe 18 or so, and Samus stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"It's ok," he tried to reassure her, but went a little wide eyed at how Samus was rubbing herself against him. He smiled a little and placed his hands on her hips. Then he looked confused as he felt the weapons there. "What the hell?"

Suddenly he felt an energy burst move through his side and he stiffened. While he'd been preoccupied with what Samus was doing, she'd grabbed his shocker and stuck it into his right side. She pulled her face back to look at him, totally expressionless. Then she pulled the device away and he fell over, passed out.

Putting the device back on his belt, she stated the destination to the computer and went towards the docking bay.

The police had been securing the docking bay, as no one had been allowed to leave or board the space ship until they found out who had killed the two men in Del Gregir's office and who had injured the other.

One of the policemen looked towards the elevator shaft as the doors opened, but no one stood inside it. Signaling the others, he spotted the downed officer lying in the shaft along with a trench coat lying on the floor.

"He's not dead, someone used the shocker on him," one of them said as they checked him out.

Samus listened to them. She'd opened the emergency hatch on the top of the elevator climbed up on top of it. Once she was satisfied they'd found the man she'd knocked out and were going to take care of him, she began to crawl up through the shaft slowly until she could find the crawl tube. She was certain the space station would turn on their bio scanners at any moment to locate any life forms on the station, and she would be spotted without her suit inside the elevator shaft. So she had to make it out of there as soon as possible.

Once she found the door and opened it, she crawled inside, moving towards the area just above the docking bay where the transport pod was located that she'd used to board the space station. Her power suit was on that ship, which was simply a second class transport pod, used for navigation throughout cities and short distances in space.

Some of the police continued to patrol the area, unaware of the woman moving quietly from the tubes in the wall towards her ship as Samus had come out near the floor, hidden by other larger ships in the docking bays.

Then she to her transport and opened the door silently, getting inside of it, waiting until no one was around before she did so.

The bio scanners were turned on just before Samus had gotten into her pod however, and one of the policemen received a signal, "Sir, someone's in the docking bay who is not registered personnel of this station."

The docking bay doors began to open as soon as he was alerted and the engines on the pod came to life as it lifted into the air and began to exit the space station.

Samus picked up all kinds of signals telling her to return to the docking bay immediately or they would open fire on her. She knew the police would come after her personally as well in their shuttles, but she didn't listen to them.

Some of the men stood back while the other Police took off after the renegade pod when it didn't heed warning, and one of the policeman asked, "Did you get a lock on the person's identity?"

"Sir, I've tried multiple times but there are no identity files for this woman whatsoever. Either she's some kind of criminal mastermind or she's working for some agency in the government I've never heard of."

The police shuttles chased after the pod and caught up to it because of the pods lack of speed capabilities. "Transport Pod, please respond. Come with us peacefully and do not force us to open fire."

They waited but no signal. "I repeat for the last time, return to the space station or we will use force."

Then the shuttle shook. Looking at the scanners, the policeman said, "We've got a gunship coming out of cloak just above our shuttles. Hail the gunship and tell them to take a different route."

At that time, the gunship moved in behind the police shuttles and began to target them

"It's locking weapons, break off pod pursuit."

The police shuttles then left to take evasive maneuvers from the gunship which was now firing its plasma cannons at them, yet was missing.

Samus piloted the pod away then, moving it towards a moon of the planet the space station orbited that was uninhabitable as it had no atmosphere.

The gunship tailed the shuttles closely which were trying to get on the offense but had no luck in doing so because of its fast movements.

"I don't think whoever is piloting the ship is trying to kill us, only scare us." They'd been fired at numerous times but had never been hit, "Either than or he's a terrible shot."

Then just as suddenly as it had appeared, the gunship cloaked and disappeared from all their scanners. The police shuttles came to a stop and one of them reported, "I can't find it on my scopes, did it cloak?"

"Negative. It was probably someone who was only out to scare us off, maybe someone trying to help the woman in the transport pod. Performing a sensor sweep now of the system to find the pod."

A few moments later the same policeman reported, "The pod is located on the second moon of this planet. I'm not reading any life signs, yet it appears to have landed safely and is operable."

The police moved towards the moon then, making it there about 3 minutes later after the gunship had broken off its attacks.

The police decided to tractor beam the pod back to the space station, believing the woman on the pod was trying to hide from them there until they'd stopped looking for her and then leave.

They entered range, hovering about 10,000 feet from the surface and started to engage their tractor beams. "Sir, the gunship has returned."

Not far from the police shuttles port bows the gunship came back into view and opened fire on the pod below them, totally destroying it.

Before the police could take action, the gunship cloaked again and they had no clue what happened to it. It's cloak was far too sophisticated for them to track through as it didn't scramble their sensors like most cloaking devices, instead it disappeared totally off their scopes as if it had never been there.

"_It was probably a space hunter after our target. That explains why they attacked us because whoever it was wanted the money for the bounty."_

Samus listened to them from her seat behind the controls in the gunship. The darkness surrounded her, and all that was seen was the glowing green of her visor and from the small lights on her chest plate. Her visor, which was shaped in an ovular V shape, seemed to leer menacingly at whatever her helmet pointed towards to look at. The vents just below the visor made a hissing sound as air was exhaled through the shaft and Samus began to pilot her gunship away from the moon, satisfied that they would not be looking for her now.

She'd feigned her own death, but this wasn't the first time she'd done so. Now the police wouldn't be looking for this woman anymore, and Samus Aran, the armored bounty hunter, would still be free to roam about as she pleased without the police annoying her every second of every day. Samus had used her suit to remotely control her gunship, sending it a signal to follow the shuttles and do what was called "feign fire" on it, which was to target the ships, but to fire on coordinates just off the ships hull, missing it. That would cause them to become more concerned with their own safety than with catching the pod, which they did. Then after Samus had landed on the surface of the moon, she'd adorned her power suit and signaled her gunship to cease fire and return to her location.

Once her gunship had landed on the moons surface, she boarded it and waited for the police to arrive so they could witness the destruction of her pod and believe she was dead.

The truth was that Samus hadn't meant for her meeting with Del Gregir to have become so intense, but sometimes these things happened. Her life wasn't predictable, and never had been. But because of that, she'd learned to deal with any situation and come up with ideas on how to get herself out of trouble as the situation arrived.

Now she would go collect her bounty on Del Gregir. It was too bad he had no idea what was coming for him.

Del Gregir had taken a shuttle to the planets surface. He'd been questioned on the space station, but he hadn't witnessed anything, therefore he was telling the truth when he'd said he had no idea what had happened. He told them about the woman, Rilana Morine, and the police had done a check on her. There was no record of a Rilana Morine fitting the description of the woman he'd given, but either way the police had witnessed the destruction of her pod and knew she was dead anyway.

Del believed Aran had killed Rilana because of her sloppiness. He was still clueless to the fact that Rilana actually was Samus Aran.

With the information Del had received from Rilana, he knew that suppliers of the illegal weapons he was going to be receiving were under cover galactic police officers. However, none of his thugs knew this and so he would send them to pick up the equipment. They were loyal to him as well, and if they were ever caught they would never give up his name.

Del Gregir was in the clear, or so he thought.

It was a little later on in the evening that the police had arrested Del Gregir. They'd received a feedback from an anonymous source that was a recording of Del Gregir admitting that he had been smuggling illegal weapons. When Del heard this, he knew Rilana had somehow recorded their conversation, but how he had no clue.

They put him in holding, a force field-enclosed cell on the detention block of the planets police headquarters.

Del had sat there quietly for several hours before he heard a familiar sound. The sound of air hissing through a ventilation shaft and he looked through the force field to the other side of the cell. He could see the dimly glowing green of a visor and he tilted his head, "How the hell did you get in here?"

"I have my ways," came a mechanically warped voice.

Del nodded slowly, "Aren't you worried about surveillance?"

"No."

Then the tall hunter stepped from the shadows, the suit with a red helmet and chest plate, and yellow and orange body plates glinted slightly in the dimly lit room. On the right arm was a cannon attached to the suit, and Del looked it over for a moment. From the edges of the cannon, 4 latches opened up and he heard the warped voice coming from the suit ask, "You were interested in my missile launcher right?"

Del nodded a little.

"I think I'll give you a demonstration."

"What are you going to do, shoot the force field until it collapses? The guards will be in here long before you complete that task."

"I'm not going to shoot the force field; I'm going to shoot you."

"Good luck," he mused then.

Then Samus entered in some coding to the panel beside the force field and it was deactivated. Del looked up quickly.

"Oh, and don't worry about the guards. It will be a while before they realize the surveillance to this room has been deactivated as well and also that the doors are locked tight."

Del stood up quickly and Samus waved her left hand at him to calm down. "It's alright Del; you have nothing to worry about."

Del looked at her un-trustingly for a few moments until he felt a little better.

After he seemed to calm down a bit Samus nodded. "There now, don't worry; I'm going to make this as quick and painless for you as possible."

Then she raised her cannon arm and aimed it at him. Del's face contorted as he slowly started to yell loudly, and Samus fired a missile right into his gut, blowing a hole through it.

The man waited in the alley quietly. He was on planet Aines, a planet that was outside of the federation's control and known for it's abundance of seedy people and supplies of devices deemed illegal in Federation Space.

Lights shined from the signs above buildings, but the light barely made its way in between them where he stood waiting.

Finally he saw who he was waiting for, the armor clad hunter making his way slowly towards him. Once Samus was within earshot, he said, "I heard it on the news that Del was killed after he was taken into holding." Then he handed a chip to Samus who took it in her left hand and nodded slowly. The chip contained the authorization codes for her to access his account and receive her payment for his death. Then Samus turned around to leave.

"Maybe I can hire you for something else," he asked.

"I don't think so" Was Samus' only reply as she made her way back to where she came from, her gunship, which was in a landing port not too far from where they'd met. With all the money Samus had just gotten from her last two bounties, she knew she had enough for what she needed.

She wouldn't take 2 bounties in a row from the same employer. Usually if someone even asked that they were trying to get the hunter into trouble and collect a bounty on them their selves. Samus wasn't going to fall for it. Either that or they were incredibly stupid. Most hunters would kill someone for asking to do a second job, that is, depending on what the job was.

Samus had been hunting for a very long time now. After she'd lost her family, and had nothing else she could turn to, she went to hunting to keep herself alive and earn some money. She was well equipped for it, and she found it suited her well. Especially since she couldn't use her equipment for what it was truly meant for.

She'd been able to establish a very good reputation as well, despite what Del had said a few days ago. He had no clue what went on in the world of hunters. In fact, Samus had become feared by many people, especially outside the federation's space. No one knew if she was human, a man, a woman, or even a cyborg robot, but she'd been called robot on several occasions, or cyborg hunter. That wasn't very far from the truth.

Samus was a human woman yes, but she also had been enhanced with cybernetic implants which could possibly deem her as somewhat of a cybernetic creature. But that wasn't totally true either as cybernetic creatures could not live without their robotic parts. Samus could.

Once she'd boarded her gunship and left Aines' atmosphere, she set in a new destination, Planet Inia, to see a friend of hers, then she started looking for a new bounty to hunt. It wasn't long before she picked up a signal from Galactic Federation headquarters itself stating that they were in need of the best hunter in the known galaxy for a large assignment. The message had not been sent to her specifically, but it had been relayed through several channels which they believed she may use, so therefore they were looking for her in particular. They simply didn't know where exactly to look.

Samus was surprised at this, to say the least, and she considered doing it right off the bat for simply curiosity of what was so urgent they needed the best hunter in the galaxy for.

After a while, she received the information. It had been well coded to prevent anyone else from finding out what was so important, and once Samus found out what the bounty was for, she accepted it not a second later.

She'd never heard of Metroids before, and wasn't sure what they were, however she did know what Space Pirates were, and she did know where Planet Zebes was, and she had always hated Space Pirates with every fiber of her being, and she always would.

So Samus would go to Inia and then report to the Galactic Federation headquarters on Earth to be debriefed on the situation and what all the bounty entailed. For the amount of money they were offering her for it, she knew it wasn't going to be a simple job.


	3. Jillian

**Jillian**

The young lady of 15 years of age lay on the couch asleep. She was a light sleeper and therefore heard the door when it opened. She lived in an apartment building where she also worked, so the apartment she lived in had the price cut back a bit, but her paycheck wasn't anything anyone could live on alone. The apartment itself was nice, not too large, but bigger than a 15 year old needed.

As the door opened, Samus walked into the living room, unsuited, and sat down across from the girl, Jillian, an orphan Samus found on a moon of Delron, on a chair that was next to the couch. Jillian sat up quickly and went to Samus, hugging her tightly. Samus patted her back and said, "Are you hungry?"

Jillian shook her head, "No, I just ate, you?"

Samus nodded some, "Yeah, a little. I got more money to put in your account. It should be enough to take care of you for the next 5 months. Remember what I told you about keeping enough to pay for the rent?"

Jillian nodded.

"Then multiply that by 5, and use the rest if you want for clothes or whatever. Or you can just save your paychecks and use that."

Samus shrugged a bit and stood up, careful not to make Jillian fall, who let go and watched her walk into the kitchen. "Is something wrong Samus? You seem a bit more talkative than usual."

Samus prepared herself some food in the kitchen, and it was quiet for a few minutes. Finally, she re-emerged eating a sandwich and motioned for Jillian to sit down. Jillian nodded and did so quickly.

Samus looked over at her, swallowing some of the sandwich she'd bitten off and said, "I've just accepted a mission from the Galactic Federation."

Jillian's eyes went wide. "What kind of mission?"

"It's classified, but I won't be back for a while if my guesses are right."

Jillian frowned some, "You're rarely ever here to begin with."

"Don't worry; with the money I'll make from this, you'll be taken care of for a long time."

Jillian sighed and threw her arms over her chest. "I don't care about that; I want you to be here to take care of me, not the money. What if you die? Then what?"

Samus grumbled some, "Then I won't die," she said quit bluntly.

Jillian sighed, but couldn't help asking, "You promise?"

Samus looked at her seriously and nodded, "I promise."

"Can you at least tell me where you're going so I will know and won't worry?"

Samus sighed some and nodded, "First the Galactic Federation headquarters on Earth to be debriefed, then Planet Zebes."

"Debriefed?"

"Yes, that's what the Military calls being told what a mission is about and what you're supposed to do," Samus explained.

"Oh," Jillian nodded. "Wait, there's a lot of police around there, they won't arrest you will they?" Jillian knew some of the things Samus did was against the law.

"No Jillian, I'll be wearing my suit, and they don't know my true identity, plus they don't have Samus Aran, the suited hunter, charged with anything."

Jillian nodded again, "I guess you've got this all planned out and I'm worrying for nothing then."

Samus nodded, "I do, and you are. For a fifteen year old, you seem to do an excessive amount of thinking."

Jillian grinned, "Well someone between us has to," and stuck her tongue out at Samus.

Samus rolled her blue eyes some, "I see. You're starting to become a smartass too."

"That just makes you proud."

Samus smiled for the first time since she'd arrived. Jillian didn't get to see her smile too often, and she grinned because of it. The truth of the matter was that despite the fact that Jillian had known Samus for about 2 years now, she still didn't know very much about her. Whether it was intentional or not, Jillian had no clue, but she didn't push anything with Samus. Samus seemed like she didn't care to speak of her past too much, and while that pricked Jillian's curiosity, she respected Samus and her privacy too much to prod about in it.

"There's a guy who works in the food stores who's been giving me funny looks," Jillian said out of nowhere.

Samus looked towards her quickly, "How old is he?"

"About my age, maybe a little older."

"If he tries anything beat the hell out of him." Samus said quite seriously. She might not act it all the time, but she viewed Jillian as her family, a sister, maybe a daughter seeing as Jillian depended on her, but it wasn't a mother daughter relationship. Samus of course let Jillian do what she wanted, as she was rarely there to stop Jillian, something Samus regretted, but couldn't do anything about it. Even still, Samus knew Jillian well enough, and knew she'd never do anything irrationally. Jillian was level headed, and ambitious, not wild and unruly.

Jillian sighed some, "I'm not you Samus; I can't beat the hell out of anyone who just pisses me off. He's cute after all; I just wish he wouldn't look at me so," she paused for a second, "Obviously."

"I see," said Samus, "Well, if he tries anything I'll beat the hell out of him," Samus reciprocated.

Jillian rolled her eyes some, "How? You're not going to be here. You won't even know unless I say something."

"I have my ways," Samus said, "Believe me, I have my ways."

Jillian looked at her quickly, "No Samus, don't."

Samus raised a brow, "Why not?"

"You'll scare the hell out of him! He'll never look any ANYONE for the rest of his life!"

"What exactly do you think I'm going to do?" Samus asked nonchalantly.

"Put your suit on and go down there to find him?"

Samus chuckled a little, "No, I'm not going to need my suit."

"Samus," Jillian said somewhat pleadingly and trailed off.

Samus couldn't help herself from smiling some and she stood up, walking to the door. "Come on."

"What," Jillian asked and stood up.

Samus opened the door without saying a word and walked out, going towards the elevator lift. Jillian followed, her height compared to Samus' only reached Samus' shoulders. Samus looked down at her, "Don't look so grim Jillian; you look like you're going on a death sentence."

"Well I'm scared of what you're going to do."

Samus smirked, "You have no reason to be."

As they walked into the lobby, some people waved to Jillian who smiled in return, and several women wearing bikinis made of materials that seemed to shimmer walked past them on the arm of a man whom was most assuredly enjoying their company. Samus watched them for a moment and snorted while she made her way past with Jillian and went to the dining room, where Jillian served food.

They walked into the elaborated decorated area where large windows overlooked the ocean near by and Samus took a seat. Jillian sat across from her and asked, "What are we doing?"

A server came up to them, someone with the same job Jillian had and said, "Hey Jill, who's this?"

"This is Rilana," Jillian said, knowing to always call Samus Rilana when they were out in public.

Samus nodded her head to the server who then spoke, "Oh, your aunt. Rilana, I just wanted to say that you're so cool."

The server, who probably wasn't much older than Jillian, seemed to be genuine in her words. "I wish my parents would let me stay alone all the time. Oh well, what can I get for you?"

Samus looked at Jillian for a moment and then said, "Actually I'm not very hungry. I just thought I'd come down and spend some time with my niece."

The server nodded, "Alright, I'll be around if you change your mind."

As she walked off, she gave Jillian a smile and a little wave, and Jillian smiled back, before turning back to Samus. Before she could speak however, the server came back to the table quickly, "I forgot something. Christian is in the back, and he was asking where you were today."

Jillian let her head fall onto the table. The server chuckled and said, "He's got it bad. You should go say hey to him."

Then she left again to go do her job and Samus smiled some at Jillian. "You see," Samus began, "One way I work when I'm looking for someone is to just let what happens happen."

Jillian groaned.

"Damn I'm good," Samus muttered to herself and Jillian looked up as Samus stood.

"Where are you going?" Jillian sputtered.

"Oh, I thought I'd take a better look around the kitchens."

Jillian stood up and grabbed her hand. "Please Samus, don't embarrass me!"

Samus patted her hand and said, "It won't be so embarrassing," and she looked towards the kitchen doors when they opened, and a young man walked from behind them. Samus sat back down, "Is that him?"

Jillian sighed and nodded. "Yes, that's him."

As soon as Christian caught site of Jillian, he continued walking towards his table but bumped right into a counter, the corner of which hit his inner thigh. She bent over some and groaned in pain.

Samus put a hand on her mouth to stop her laugh, but she couldn't help her snorts of laughter. "He's cute," she said, "Clumsy, but cute."

Christian looked back towards Jillian, his cheeks red with embarrassment, and he went on about his serving. Once he was done, Samus had been watching him quietly, waiting for him to finish, she raised her hand up and motioned for him to come over. Christian looked around to see if it were him she were looking at and when he realized it was he made his way over.

Jillian glared at Samus for a minute and then muttered, "I should've kept this to myself."

Samus gave her a pitiful look and once Christian arrived he said, "Can I help you?"

Samus shrugged, "I just figured I'd get to meet all of Jillian's friends before I left. She said she knows you."

Christian nodded, "Yeah, I know Jill. You must be Rilana?"

Samus nodded. Jillian just muttered, "Hey Chris."

Chris smiled some, "Hey Jill. Are you off today?"

Jillian nodded a bit. "Yeah, until the boss finds me, then he'll ask me to work."

Christian snorted some, "He does that a lot, I know."

Jillian didn't mind working, but she was horrified when she heard her boss's voice calling her name. "Jillian, can I talk to you a second?"

Jillian knew she'd have to leave Samus with Christian, and giving Samus a knowing look, she stood up, hating this all together. "Yes, I'm coming."

As Jillian left, Samus pushed the chair beside her out with her booted foot quickly, causing Christian to jump. Then she said, "Sit down."

"I need to get back to," Christian started.

"Sit!" Samus interrupted.

Christian sat down quickly.

About that time, the server girl came by and said, "Hey Rilana, you change your mind?"

Samus looked at her and spoke, "Actually yes. Give me a Bergeon Rum and Cantin'Sil mix. Don't water it down, I like it straight."

The server blinked a few times and then nodded, "Ok," as she walked off. What Samus just ordered was something not many people could stomach without it being severely watered down. Even then, they didn't drink it much because the watered down taste left something to be desired.

Christian raised a brow and then looked at Samus, "You do know what those things do to you right?"

"Do you?"

Christian cleared his throat. He'd tried one once. After the second drink, he was too wasted to know left from right, and then passed out. It was the worst hangover he'd ever had. "Yes ma'am."

Samus smiled, "I've heard a bit about you since I've been back."

"Like what," Christian asked.

"Well, Jillian told me that there was a rumor you like her a lot, is that true?"

Christian shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

Samus gave him a hard look. Christian swallowed, "Yes, it's very true."

Then Samus smiled, "I see. Have you made any moves?"

Christian swallowed some. "No ma'am."

Once more Samus gave him a hard look. "Yes ma'am, I've asked her out several times. We even had a serious talk once, but she's really shy."

Samus raised a brow at him, "Really shy?"

Christian swallowed, "Yeah, I mean she wouldn't let me come see her regularly."

"And just why do you want to see her regularly?"

Christian shrugged, and Samus watched as her drink was sat down before her. She picked it up and said, "You know I'm rarely around don't you?"

Christian nodded slowly.

Samus then began to drink the green liquid slowly, downing the entire glass. Christian cringed some. After all the contents were gone, Samus sighed some and looked at him, "Let me tell you something," she began. "If I ever hear that you were in my apartment with Jillian alone, I'll find you and rip off your arms, understood?"

Christian blinked. She'd sounded do deadly serious, his eyes were wide open. "Yes ma'am," he stuttered.

"I don't have a problem with you liking my niece but if you ever hurt her in any way, I'll hunt your down like a Larg and you won't like what I'll do to you."

A Larg was an animal often hunted for its skins, as well as the meat was used in foods. Christian nodded again quickly. Then Samus smiled. Jillian had come back over to the table and said, "I have to work now." Her voice caused Christian to jump up out of his chair.

"It was nice meeting you Rilana, I have to get back to work now myself, I'll see ya later Jillian," he said quickly and walked off.

Jillian watched him and then looked back at Samus who handed her glass back to the server, declining a refill. "He never calls me Jillian, damn it Sa...," she stopped herself, "Rilana, what did you say to him?"

Samus just shrugged some with a little smirk and stood up, "Nothing, I simply told him to behave," she paused and tilted her head once, "In so many words."

Jillian groaned, "God."

Samus placed a hand on her shoulder. "Jillian, don't worry about it, I just did you a favor, he'll be easier to control now."

"But I don't want to control him," Jillian muttered.

"My young friend," Samus spoke, "You have much to learn about men and women, and why women must be able to control them."

Jillian stared at her for a moment and then grinned with a laugh. Samus smiled for only a moment and then her face went back to its usual expressionless demeanor. "I have to go now."

Jillian nodded, and reached out to hug Samus. Samus just patted her back some and then said, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Jillian mumbled and let go. "I'll miss you."

Samus turned away from Jillian without giving her any admission to what she'd just said. Jillian watched Samus walk out of the dining area and sighed softly. She never understood why Samus always seemed too distant to her. She just couldn't understand it.

Then she turned and went off to work herself.


	4. The Feds

**The Feds**

"I still don't see how hiring a bounty hunter will help this when we've sent entire military teams and haven't heard from them since they arrived," the man spoke.

"Like it or not this is the president's orders," Jon Levinson, a military captain spoke. "It's likely we won't hear from the bounty hunter again, but from the reports on this hunter, and the skills he possesses, we don't even believe he's human, so we may just have a chance."

About a week ago, a military space station had been attacked and their securities breached. The space station, named F3-27, was a secret base of operations that cataloged the findings on a new discovery, a creature called a Metroid. The creature was discovered about a month earlier, and so far, there was little known about them. A parasitic life form, the Metroid was ovular in shape, its main body transparent, with four tusks located around an orifice on the bottom of the creature. Three or four nuclei could be seen inside the creature's body, like red bumpy spheres connected to veins inside the creature's body. They floated throughout the air, lifted by some unknown force, and whenever they moved a dim trail of a bluish green glow could be seen about their bodies whenever they moved. They were predators, latching onto their prey using the tucks and drew out their prey's energy, killing them in the process. The way this creature killed baffled scientists. It drew no blood, no body fluids, no tangible type of substance, yet whatever they drew, the victims could not live without.

Scientists believed it was some type of energy, perhaps the same type of energy that powered the minds facilities, such as consciousness, but they weren't one hundred percent sure. At this early stage of studying the creatures, it was mostly just speculation.

They also knew that after being exposed to beta rays for a period of 24 hours, the Metroids would multiply and split into two. They'd done several tests to see if the beta rays actually harmed the creatures in any way to make sure if this was a safe method of multiplying them or not. The reason they wanted to study these creatures was that they had found enormous potential for energy production.

That's when they were attacked. The Space Station wasn't destroyed, but all the Metroids that were there had been stolen, as well as several ships had been attacked and their Metroids they carried were hoarded from there as well.

The thieves were a race of creatures known as Space Pirates. The Galactic Federation had put up with this race before several times, but since the discovery of the Metroid creature, the attacks had increased almost tenfold, and the Galactic Federation Police had been rendered helpless in their struggled against them.

The Space Pirates hoarded items for themselves; they stole technology and other things, and used them against the Galactic Federation. When they stole the Metroids however, the Galactic Federation knew they had to put a stop to it. Who knew what kind of productions they would be able to accomplish with such a deadly, yet still promising creature.

Therefore, the Federation sent military teams to Planet Zebes, a world that was located far outside the Federations Space, and though little was known of it, the Federation had tracked the Pirates back to that location. They sent military teams to recover the lost Metroids and put a stop to whatever was taking place on the planet. However, after two weeks, and after three teams had been sent, none of them had been heard from since their landing.

It had become increasingly obvious to the President of the Galactic Federation on this matter that they were going to need the best in the known universe. The only question was who the best was.

There had been reports recently of a bounty hunter known only as Samus Aran who mostly took bounties outside federation space, and only very few times had ever been spotted within it. They didn't even have a proper picture of this hunter on file, but from what had been reported this hunter was said to be able to do things no human could do.

Because of the reclusiveness of this hunter, it had taken the Federation over a week to get in contact with him, and they were pleased to receive a positive response. They were now expecting arrival within the hour for the Hunter to be debriefed.

Captain Jon Levinson was the one who would be debriefing this hunter, but the President, a human named E. Senning, was going to oversee the debriefing.

They stood in a meeting room located in the Galactic Federation Headquarters on planet Earth, having just received the word of the hunter's arrival.

Levinson was speaking with the president when the doors behind them opened and into the room walked two Cadets, one on each side of the metal armored hunter between them. Levinson raised a brow, as did President Senning.

Since Samus Aran had no valid identification cards, she couldn't present any proper ID to them, therefore they didn't do a security checks on Samus to make sure it was indeed Samus. From the looks of this hunter, Captain Levinson wasn't sure whether he wanted to ask either, but he did, "You're Samus Aran I presume?"

No response.

"You're dismissed Cadets," President Senning said, and walked to the doors, securing them after the cadets left.

Samus didn't move. "If you're apprehensive about being in a military stronghold, then don't be. We have no charges against you."

At that, Samus walked towards some computer terminals near by. President Senning shook his head when Levinson gave him a look suggesting they should stop her. Senning was too interested in seeing what this hunter would do.

Samus began to access a few files, scanning the terminals for information, specifically the access codes. Once she had those, she began to hack into their systems to find out all the information they had her on, and promptly she deleted it.

Senning stepped forward then as he saw what she was doing, and said, "Why are you deleting those files?"

Samus then began to download some information. Senning was getting a little impatient. "Don't worry," came the mechanically warped voice from the hunter, "I'm only accessing the information on this mission. It will serve me better if I have cataloged files of it."

Senning nodded slowly, "And why are you deleting the only information we have on you?"

Finally, the hunter turned around and faced them. "Because it is obsolete; anything you think you may know about me you don't, and anything you have collected on me from other sources is also inaccurate. I've taken very careful steps to hide my identity, therefore anyone or anything you may get in contact with about me will not know the truth."

Senning nodded slowly. "I see. Then perhaps you would like to elaborate on yourself? Tell us anything we may need to know."

Only the air hissing from the vents sounded as Samus drew breath. Senning waited patiently for an answer, and finally Samus said, "The truth is you're not on a need to know basis, I am. Now, may we get down to business, or perhaps I should just leave."

Senning sighed somewhat and let the hunter have his way for now. "Levinson, if you will please?"

Levinson nodded and walked towards a monitor where he drew up maps and star charts, as well as a cataloged map of Planet Zebes that they knew contained many errors, but was the most up to date information they had on the planet so far. He began to explain the mission to her, about Zebes, and about the Space Pirates as if she had no clue what anything was. The information on the Metroids was what she listened to the most. "Once a Metroid latches on, we don't know how to get it off. However, we also don't know if they will affect you or not, seeing as we don't even know if you're a machine or a person wearing armor."

Samus decided, perhaps, that they should know a little more about the person they were sending off on this mission, so she spoke, "I'm human."

Senning blinked and looked a bit confused. "If you're human, then how have you done some of the things you do? We've heard you can turn into a little ball at will."

Samus rolled her eyes behind her visor some, "I have cybernetic implants that allow me to do various things you cannot." Then she paused for a moment and looked at Senning, "Come here."

She had to prove it to them. They didn't seem to be inclined to believe her if the way they were looking at her was any indication. Senning was a bit hesitant as he walked closer to her and stood there. For a brief moment, he thought he could see eyes behind the visor, and he looked a little harder. Then he saw them look to the side, and he was startled when the hunter's left hand grabbed his shirt and began to lift him into the air with one arm. "Alright," he said, "You've proved your point. I believe you."

Samus set him back down on his feet. He straightened out his clothes and then said, "Well, with your being human, we'll need to give you a physical examination by some of our doctors, make sure you're not carrying any diseases or the like, and vaccinate you as well."

Samus shook her head, "No. I'm not going to see any of your doctors, I'm not getting vaccinated, I certainly do not need that, and also, I'm quite disease free, I can assure you."

"It is federation policy Mr. Aran," Levinson spoke. "We need records."

"For what exactly," Samus said quickly, her helmet moving to look in his direction quickly.

Levinson grumbled for a moment. Senning held his hand up to stop him and took over. "It's not that important Mr. Aran. Simple medical records are all he meant."

Samus didn't move for a few moments before Senning finally let Levinson continue with the mission. He continued by saying, "Your objective, Mr. Aran, in this mission is to infiltrate the space pirate holdings on Zebes and destroy the Metroids there. Once this is completed you need to report back here with your findings and debrief us on the activities that took place."

"How resistant to weapons are these creatures?"

"Very," Levinson stated. "We still don't know any easy way of killing them, and it takes a lot to kill them with some of our most powerful weapons. We hadn't studied them long enough before they were stolen to know for certain."

"You mean to say that you have no more of these creatures nested in another one of your secret bases somewhere," Samus asked sarcastically. "I find that hard to believe."

Levinson just cleared his throat and said, "Either way, we haven't had the time to study them properly to know for certain."

"What about the prior teams sent there? If I find any survivors I mean."

"You're objective is not to rescue anyone. We believe them to be dead. If you do come across survivors however, send a signal to us and we will send teams to bring them back to Galactic Federation Space."

"Interesting," Samus mused. "So I kill the Metroids, any Space Pirates who try to stop me, and send a signal to you if I find survivors. Is that it?"

Levinson nodded, "Once completed you return here to report back to us. Any information you can gather on your activities will be of use to us as well."

Senning was silent for a moment before he finally said, "Do you think you're really up to this challenge?" Then he looked towards Samus.

Samus looked back at him, the visor glowing in a menacing way, the cannon attached to the right arm of the suit seeming powerful simply to look at. Tall and intimidating, the hunter didn't speak at all, and Senning finally nodded, "Never mind."

"For security issues we'll be sending a team to follow you to Zebes. They will not make landfall, but will only be there in case you fail or in case you find the survivors you asked about."

Samus nodded slowly once and Levinson said, "Meeting adjourned. You will receive payment upon the success of this mission."

Samus listened while they spoke and once all was done, she headed towards what would be the pinnacle of her career as a bounty hunter.

_The abyss. The black hole. I fell in long ago and won't ever find my way out. Too many events have barricaded me inside. Too many tragedies. What light I see isn't an exit. It's simply another chance to redeem myself, but in whose eyes I do not yet know. Those chances don't offer me freedom either. They simply curse me even more to be lead farther inside this hole that will not end._

_I thought I'd found freedom once, when I was a child. I was mistaken. Pain is my teacher, and its lessons are powerful and demanding. It taught me, yet it denies me any chance of freedom every second of everyday. It has forsaken me. Therefore, I will forsake anyone who tries to cause it._

_I'm not inherently violent. I have simply been forced to react to situations that will allow me to be no other way. I do not evoke death and destruction. They evoke me. My life isn't the sum of a random equation; I am what I am for a reason. Acceptance has to be my ally. Without it, I wouldn't be able to survive. It was meant to be._

_I look back on my life, and on whom I was, who I am now, and with some joy, I can say that I have no regrets. That is the only thing that allows me any comfort. The only thing that allows me any peace. All that matters now is survival. That's all._

_There is no rope leading out. There's no trap door to find, no map to show the way. And here I am, in the middle of it all. Piss me off and I'll drag you in with me. I have nothing left to lose. My name is Samus Aran. This is where you'll find me._

**End part one of seven. **

**Part two: Vengeance**


	5. Vengeance: Stowaway

I: A Hunter's Vengeance

**Author's Note:** _This story was written out of mostly imagination and is not based upon the Metroid Comics at all. I haven't gotten a chance to read any of those comics, though I would like to, and this story comes from simply my imagination. Metroid belongs to Nintendo and I am using the storyline without permission, but I do not claim to have come up with the Metroid idea or Samus Aran myself. So giving credit where credit is due, the only things I have really made up myself in this story are the characters Jillian and a few others of which I'm sure you'll recognize. This story takes place after Super Metroid (before I knew what went on in Metroid Fusion.) So, I hope you enjoy it. Just call it a fans tribute!!!_

_Editor's note: There may be some aspects of this story that you may not necessarily agree with, but you are just going to have to deal with it. If you don't like it you don't have to read it. Please tell me about any issues you may find, i'm sure there are plenty that i have missed. There are seven parts to this epic, six parts and one prologue, of which one has already been completed. Also, if you havn't noticed, the "part" of the story is only written once in the chapter selection and all proceeding chapters up to but not including the next part belong to it. For example, in Vengeance: Stowaway, Vengeance is the part where Stowaway is the chapter in that part. Thanks for reading! _

_Thoth_

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**Stowaway**

It wasn't as if fighting an entire planet full of alien creatures that'd rather pull your eyes out and eat your brains than look at you was an everyday occurrence. No wonder she slept so long after she was done. Why did it seem as if she had to be the super hero for all of the Galactic Federation? Well, whatever higher power there was, they only knew.

She had gone to sleep on the bunk of her bed in her gunship, the one place she felt totally secure. She'd set the autopilot to a course heading to the planet Inia, having a small task to complete. Well, not so much a task as an old friend to see.

Contrary to popular opinion of the bounty hunter, she did have feelings, she had likes and dislikes, and she had morals. She simply chose not to show them all the time. Especially to the bastards who thought that they could have bought her off cheap. Maybe that was why she turned to the Galactic Federation when they offered her a job, simply because she felt like utterly destroying all of the would-be employers that had a job for her. Jobs that would make even the hardest of warriors want to vomit. She didn't care what anyone said or thought, she was not about to kill children or families for profit.

She always seemed to sleep very well after large missions that she had just completed. Even though she knew she would gain new nightmares and reasons to run and hide in her sleep, she was so exhausted that her mind didn't work at all after the mission was completed. Zebes had been destroyed and the last of the metroids were killed. At least, as long as those damn pirates didn't clone or genetically engineer them somehow. All they needed was the DNA to do so. After all, they had done so to that bastard Ridley more than once. Moreover, she knew they were foul enough to try it again.

Morons. Utter fools.

The COM on her bedside started beeping, signaling to the sleeping hunter that she had a message incoming. The noise was soft, but loud enough to wake her up gradually. Slowly her hazel eyes came open, though unwillingly, and she pushed herself up, looking around the dark room wondering what time it was. "Lights," she spoke in a groggy voice and squinted with a small groan as the room filled with light then. In no hurry to intercept the message on her com-link, she sat up slowly and let the reality of the waking world enter her once again.

Even after rubbing her eyes, she didn't grab the COM, but simply walked towards the food replicator. She got herself a glass of water and a small sandwich. Her appetite still hadn't returned fully, but she knew in a day or so she'd be as hungry as a horse, so she wasn't worried.

Finally, she reached for the button and found the signal was from the Galactic Federation. They wanted to know where the hell she was. She hadn't reported back to them yet, but she didn't care to. She was tired and worn out, both physically and mentally, and she thought that if they couldn't allow her some time to recover herself after a mission, then they could put their lips right on her ass.

Finally, she accepted the message and heard a voice, though gruff, she knew it was his regular voice and that he wasn't pissed at all. The President of the Galactic Federation was most likely worried, but she would deal with that later.

The message was as follows.

"This is the president of the Galactic Federation. We have detected a large explosion in the System containing planet Zebes. We have scanned, finding no remains of the planet exist, need your verification of its annihilation. In addition, it would be good to know you're all right. This is President Senning, over."

Samus rolled her hazel orbs, stood from her seat on the bed after finishing her small meal, and said, "Computer, reply to president's message. 'President Senning, this is Samus Aran, I am verifying that I have eradicated the problem of Planet Zebes and am alive and well. I will report to you in 3 days with complete details. This is Samus. Out.' Computer, engage voice scrambler and cloak ships location on the message." A beep signaled it was sent.

Not one for talking, she closed the COM and looked at her current position on the computer screen. Damn, she was only 15 minutes away from Inia. She did sleep a long time, around 18 hours.

Inia was in a system outside of the Federation's control, and Samus wasn't as well known around there as she was in the Federation systems. Though her name had spread throughout the galaxy like a wildfire on a dry field, there was still much speculation around her name and who she was. She could even remember hearing a rumor that she had planted the Metroids on Zebes the first time just so she could make money. Samus didn't even laugh at that notion, and actually found it quite offensive, but as always, she didn't care what others thought.

Only one person's thoughts concerned her.

Jillian sat at her desk reading the daily news on her computer screen, curious about the recent dealings of the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates. She was getting worried about her friend. Samus should have been here by now! Where the hell was she?

Like clockwork, she heard a knock at the door behind her. Her dog, a small terrier, started barking and jumping up and down as if his mother were on the other side of the door. Jillian stood, grabbed Victory, the dog, and opened the door to see a towering seven-foot form of an orange, red, and gold powered armor battle suit standing before her. She gasped as Samus walked inside and shut the door as to not attract the attention of the tenants in near by rooms.

"Samus!" She finally exclaimed and threw herself at the bounty hunter in a hug, despite the hard armor of the suit. Victory squirmed his way to the floor and Samus placed her left hand upon Jillian's back, hugging her halfheartedly in return, then removed her helmet, causing her sandy blonde ponytail to fall out. It was true, Samus didn't usually wear her suit on such personal occasions, but Jillian had wanted to see the suit very badly since Samus had made some changes to it, which was why she'd gasped when she'd seen Samus at first, but then, after she'd given Samus a hug, she stepped back and looked it over. "Damn, you were right, it does make you taller."

Samus snorted and shook her head. She sat down on a nearby chair and set her helmet next to her. She felt all out of sorts in such a personal environment, but she didn't care.

Jillian took the helmet, placed it on her own head, though it was a bit too big, and looked out of the visor at Samus. "Cool, I still don't see how you can stand it though, I'd get Closter phobic."

Samus tilted her head in a slight shrug and said, "You'd appreciate it more if you've had lasers and missiles being fired at you."

Jillian just laughed softly and removed the helmet, placing it back where was. "Are you alright? Hungry?"

"I'm fine," was Samus's only reply. Victory jumped on her lap as she pet him with her left hand, her right still inside the cannon. "I don't have much time Jillian. I know you want me to stay longer, but the Federation wants me to return and report on recent events. I told them I would be there in three days, but when they get the message, they'll be screaming at me to return and I don't feel like listening to their bullshit.

Jillian looked disappointed. "Will you come back when you're done? Perhaps take me with you?"

Samus shook her head, "I told you, I'm not taking you off this planet. It's too dangerous for you to travel with me. You're the closest thing to any type of family I have, and I'm not going to endanger you like that."

Jillian had met Samus after a space pirate raid on the colony JY33, a moon of Delron. She'd found the teenage Jillian hiding in a pile of rubble. She was one of the ones who didn't make it to any escape ports to get out of the colony before they were killed. It reminded Samus of her childhood, when a space pirate raid had claimed her mother and father. Though Jillian had been frightened of the Bounty Hunter at first, Samus had removed her helmet and showed her everything was all right. She then took Jillian to Planet Inia, a remote and peaceful planet without much corruption. In fact, it was mostly a vacation planet, and not much politics took place there, though it was more open to things such as illegal devices and weapons, as it was out of the Federation's control. Samus still felt it was the safest place for her at the time, for even she didn't trust the federation totally.

No, Samus wouldn't allow Jillian to go with her. She would indeed come back, but Jillian would have to wait.

After explaining this to Jillian, they continued with their chatting, actually Jillian did, and Samus just listened, wondering if she could ever be like Jillian, who actually wanted to be like Samus. Each envied and idolized the other. They both craved what they didn't have.

"I know I'm probably boring you with everything I've done in the past few weeks. I'm just so happy to see you again. Why do you have to be a bounty hunter anyway?"

Samus looked away. She never told Jillian about the Chozo, how the Space Pirates had also wiped them out of existence, she had only told her of her own family, and never expounded the details of that. The fact that every time Samus saw something terrible happen she wanted to right it, and in the end, she wanted to make the pirates pay for everything. "Like I said, it's just what I am."

Jillian let her have that and just nodded, letting the subject go. "Do you still have the necklace I gave you?"

Samus nodded and pulled on the silver chain to show her. The medallion on the necklace had a red stone in it, something like Ruby, but it wasn't. Jillian smiled and then hugged her friend once more, Samus returning the hug more fully this time. Jillian knew she had things on her mind, and she then said, "Well, why don't you go and get it over with. I'll ask just once more for you to take me along for the ride."

Samus gave her a stern look and Jillian held up her hands in defeat. "Fine, fine, I won't ask anymore."

Samus nodded, appeased, as she then stood up and replaced her helmet, becoming once more the hard hunter which everyone had heard of. Her voice, distorted and mechanical from the helmets small vent sounded then, "I'll be back soon. I promise. But I'm not taking you anywhere with me while I'm not sure about threats. I don't want to have to look out for you as well."

Jillian nodded as the door shut and told her friend goodbye. After Samus had taken her leave, Jillian muttered, "I can take care of myself, and I'll prove it."

The engines of her gunship roared to life after the short visit with her friend, and shot out of the docking bay and off into space. Destination: The Galactic Federations Headquarters.

A sound. Something sounding like footsteps trying to be hidden sounded from behind Samus and she turned her eyes to the side from which they came, sitting as if she'd heard nothing. Then she turned around as if it was simply routine, and walked in the direction the noise had come from. She switched to her thermal visor, seeing a heat signature, but unable to tell fully what it was because it was hidden behind several pipes on the wall. Now standing right next to the signature she saw, facing a computer monitor as if it were reading something, the being suddenly found a cold metal cannon held in its face.

"Samus don't, it's me! Jillian!"

Samus quickly switched her visor off and looked, seeing it was indeed Jillian as she lowered the cannon and pulled her out from behind the piping. "How the hell did you get in here Jillian?"

Samus's voice was stern, but not harsh. She could never be that harsh with Jillian as long as Jillian was all right.

"I snuck in your cargo bay while you were boarding. I'm sorry, I had to, I just wanted to show you that I can take care of myself!"

Samus grumbled, her form towering as she turned away and said, "So much that you almost got your head blown off."

Jillian grumbled, "I know. But I can, honestly. You'll see! How did you know I was there anyway?"

"You were _trying_ to cover your footsteps and I heard you. Then I just switched to thermals and got your heat signature. That's how, and I won't see anything because I'm turning around and taking you back RIGHT now."

Samus sat down at the helm and began, "Set new course heading to--" as Jillian protested, but she stopped suddenly causing Jillian to stop as well.

"What is it?"

"Damn it, I don't have enough energy to get you back to Inia, only to get to Planet Margides."

Jillian hid her smile and said, "I guess that means I'm staying."

Samus shot a look at her through the visor of the helmet, though Jillian couldn't see it. She was very angry, perhaps not with Jillian, but then again maybe so. "I guess so," she said sarcastically and added, "But you're not leaving my sight. Be prepared to have my constant attention. And that, I can promise, isn't very nice."

Jillian raised an eyebrow at Samus, now seeing she was obviously angry, and sat down on the floor in the corner of the corridor and said, "Damn Samus, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come with you for once though."

Samus took a deep breath that sounded through the helmets ventilation shaft and looked back at her monitor. "I know you did, though, what's so great about being around me, I don't understand. Don't attempt to explain it either; you'll probably just make me even angrier. Just sit tight, we'll be there soon enough in warp."


	6. Debriefing

_Fortunately for me, I don't wear briefs. No, don't ask, I don't want to know. Enjoy. Thoth :p_

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**Debriefing**

The grand hall of the Galactic Federation was filled with people from all over the Quadrant, and they were all sitting in their designated area according to their ranking in the federation. President Senning sat in the front row along with his advisors, and so forth and so on. They had received the message from Samus Aran that he was in the docking bay refueling his ship, and would be there any minute.

Just then, the doors opened and the tall hunter walked through them in all his armored glory, looking forward and a smaller girl, followed behind him. Samus Aran approached the President and stood there, the light shining through the large glass walls glinting off his armor as if it were also made of glass.

"Who is this girl? We have no use for her here!" One of the more cynical senators stated from his seat in the third row. The President was about to calm him down when the hunter shot his face towards him and said, "She's none of your concern. This meeting is not classified, at least, I have not been told so, so therefore she is allowed here. If you have any problems with her presence then come and confront me."

As expected, the man shut his mouth and sat back. The President just shook his head slowly as he looked at Aran and said, "Now, can we continue? Please give us your report of the recent events on Planet Zebes."

Samus looked at the girl, and, in a voice that was barely audible, told her to sit down. The redheaded girl complied quickly and took a seat, already looking out of place in the large room. Then Aran walked over to a large projector, and after pressing a few buttons on his cannon arm, he extracted a small disc and inserted it into the projectors machinery. A few flashes and then pictures of the landscape from the view of his visor came to life.

"As you can see when I first arrived, the planet was barren and under the deluge of an acidic rain, which cleared up after some time. I found the entire planet to be deserted, corridors and all, until I stepped into their scanners unknowingly; they were somehow cloaked to me. Once my presence was alerted to the pirates, they came out in full force."

The screen went on to show a pirate attacking Samus, as if the people in the room were Samus himself, engaging in combat with the creature, and becoming wounded, but prevailing in the end as his entire visor was covered in green blood. A hand then wiped the blood away and the scenes went on.

The girl watched in obvious disbelief. She remembered those pirates very well, and she felt a surge of hate and anger move through her, not only for what they did to her, but for what they did and are still doing to her friend, whom she looked at as an older sister. She also had no idea of what Samus had gone through on the planet, and now knew the nature of the nightmares Samus had told her she had, hell, the nightmares Jillian had even witnessed her having. She'd wake up in a cold sweat sometimes, and once almost broke Jillian's neck when Jillian had tried to wake her up from the terrible dream. Indeed Jillian could see now the real weight of the burdens this woman carried.

"I finally made my way into the rebuilt Tourian to find that the Mother Brain somehow was back, most likely engineered by the space pirates once again, and I eradicated it with the help of the Metroid. It triggered a self-destruct though and the entire planet was blown to pieces. It killed the Metroid, which I had sought to rescue, and though that part of my mission was not a success, the rest as you can see was. There is your report."

The screens went blank and Samus turned to look at the President and all the senators and politicians of the Galactic Federation. The same senator as before, who'd wanted to know who Jillian was, spoke again then, "You say rescue as if the Metroid was in turmoil and needed you, when it almost killed you itself. Are you in some way attached to this life form?"

Samus's eyes narrowed behind her mirrored visor menacingly and she said, "As you can see, this creature saved my life as well. I did not consider it a pet, if that's what you mean, but it was a huge opportunity at one time. Now I realize though, that the Space Pirates will stop at nothing to harness their power, even the destruction of the Ceres Space Station, as you know. Therefore I am glad they are eradicated, because now the Metroids will not be able to be used."

The man sat back, his curiosity appeased, as the President continued, "Well done Aran. I expect you want your pay now."

"It wouldn't be a problem if that's what you're thinking," Arsn replied blandly through the helmet of his power suit.  
The President nodded as he placed a briefcase upon the table before him. The hunter took a few steps forward and retrieved it, then turned his back on them and headed back towards the door, motioning to the girl to come along.

She stood, wondering if that was it. This is how it ended? Nothing else was given to her for saving the Galactic Federation for the millionth time? She stopped and turned around, looking back at them as she spoke, "Maybe my opinion doesn't count much to you people, but I think you owe a lot more to Samus than you've given. Every single one of you in here owes your lives to Samus! You all—" and she was interrupted by Samus grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room.

The doors shut and the President looked forward, somewhat thoughtfully, as he said, "This meeting is adjourned."

Walking through the corridors to the docking bay and boarding her gunship, Samus looked over at Jillian who seemed to be deep in thought. As they descended into the gunship, Samus finally spoke, "What's bothering you?"

Jillian took several deep breaths before she answered, "I never knew you went through so much, and I just..." she paused, "I just hate those damn pirates so much Samus!"

Her voice had taken on a more urgent tone and Samus took off her helmet and leaned against the wall, throwing the suitcase of money on a nearby table as she closed her eyes and exhaled, pulling her light sandy hair from its ponytail. Jillian looked up at her as she thought for a moment and then bit her lip. "I'm sorry Samus."

Samus looked at her for only a moment, thinking she had nothing to be sorry about. Samus hated them too. As she took her seat at the helm then and pulled the ship to life, leaving the docking bay, she thought about how Jillian had never seen her angry. Really purely angry. She only hoped it would be a side of her that Jillian would never witness, and Samus took another breath, rubbing her forehead as she began to speak. "I know you hate them, but you've nothing to be sorry for. I hate them just as much, if not more, because they killed both my families."

"Both of your families?" Jillian asked then, wondering what she meant.

"After my colony was destroyed and I was left there alone, I was found by the Chozo, an ancient race of creatures where I got my suit and my abilities from."

Samus turned and looked at Jillian then, the look upon her face was one she never showed. "I was raised by them; all they cared for was peace. My race loved war, it seemed. Together, we taught each other much, as they were so far advanced from humans I couldn't even begin to describe it. I wanted revenge so badly I could taste it. For every nightmare I had, a space pirate would die, it mattered not who they were. The Chozo infused me with their blood and equipped me with this suit. I claimed my place as a bounty hunter then and my hate has nearly consumed me. You're one of my lights, Jillian, one of the few I have left. I don't want to see you become what I am. Cold and calculating, though I do care, yes, I'm still not the woman you want to be."

Jillian listened and nodded. "You've gotten your revenge now haven't you? Can't you just quit?"

Samus shook her head, "No, I've forgotten what it's like to lead a more normal life, and I wouldn't be good at it. I'm not built for that, I'm built for this," she said and looked around her.

Jillian looked down silently and nodded. "You're still my family and I still love you."

Samus nodded, "As I you. That's why I won't let you become what I am."

"That's why I want to help you whenever I can."

"I don't need help."

"I don't need guidance then."

Samus growled halfheartedly and then turned back to the helm. "Let's just go home."


	7. Renegades

**Renegades**

Space was always cold. Home to some and hell to others, it was an endless sea of nothing. In the middle of that sea she stood. Watching as one life after another rose before her and lifted into the darkness above. No one could see it like she could, the detail of the faces as they passed her, all of them innocent, and behind every one of them stood a Space Pirate.

Samus screamed out from behind her helmet and lunged for them, but missed every time, falling onto ground that seemed not to exist, yet it was there. She fought endlessly to get at them, wrestling with herself and the ground which she hit so endlessly, until one grabbed her from behind and ripped her helmet off. Its foul cold hands encased her cheeks as it turned her head to the side and broke her neck, a loud snap sounding and echoing in the darkness, until that darkness consumed everything everywhere.

"SHIT!" Samus sat up from her bunk on the ship and rolled out of the bed, clad in only a tank top and a pair of white shorts. Jillian had heard the commotion and came in to find Samus lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

"Samus, are you alright?"  
"Don't touch me! Don't touch..." she trailed off and pushed herself up, making her way to the sink in her small quarters, drawing water and splashing her face with it. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at her face reflecting in the mirror, staring at it. It stared back.

Jillian jumped, shocked as Samus turned and rammed her fist into the wall. The wall actually bent somewhat, but Samus's hand had suffered more from the blow than the wall did. She didn't cringe in pain or pull back however, even as blood began to pour from her knuckles. "I sincerely wish you weren't here right now."

Jillian grabbed a few clothes and said, "Why not, so I won't see you like this? I've seen you have nightmares before, remember? You're not scaring me."

She took Samus's hand gently and began to wipe the blood away as a tear trailed down Samus's cheek. Jillian looked up at her, having never seen her cry before. She was even more surprised when Samus pulled her closer for a large hug. Jillian simply patted her back and rubbed her hair gently, as if she were her mother.

"Yes, I remember Jillian, but you've never seen me vulnerable. I don't like it," she whispered, and actually found her first smile in a while.

Jillian looked up just as she smiled and returned it, saying, "Well, I won't tell if you won't."

Samus started to chuckle as she opened her mouth, but was cut off as the entire ship shook. "What the hell was that?"

Making her way to the monitor, the ships scans detected two vessels of about the same size off the port bow.

"Space Pirates?" Jillian asked.

"No, renegade bounty hunters. These guys do everything in groups and go against all the rules of a hunter."

"Hunters have rules?"

Samus grinned sheepishly, "Not really, but there is a certain etiquette in different areas. These guys basically conform to their own etiquette if you get my picture."

Jillian nodded and stumbled as the ship took another blow. Raising her shields, Samus turned to her weapons systems and locked on to the vessels, firing one shot and destroying one of them totally.

"Well that was simple," Jillian said as the other ship began to retreat.

Samus shook her head and plotted a course to follow the retreating ship, saying, "Nothing's ever simple. These guys came after me for a reason and I want to know what it is."

Jillian nodded, unable to help the fact that she was excited. She had started to think Samus was full of hot air about it not being safe to travel with her, but now she could see otherwise.

The scans indicated the ship was from a region near an ice world called Syfia. The world had undergone a permanent ice age due to its suns turn to a dwarf star, and nothing on the planet had survived save, perhaps, bacteria of some type. It had always been rumored there were activities going on beneath the surface of the planet, but Samus had never had a reason to care in particular. Maybe now she'd find out.

The ship, which couldn't travel as fast as Samus's gunship, was easily followed, and sure enough it led them back to Syfia, and began to enter the atmosphere.

"Don't they know they're being followed? Or are they incredibly stupid?"

"No, and yes. I have a cloaking device on my ship which causes it to be remiss in scans and also in visuals. You can thank the Chozo for that bit of technology."

"Thank you Chozo," Jillian said with a grin.

Samus couldn't help but smirk, and followed the ship all the way down to the surface almost, settling in a valley of icy hills not too far from where the ship had landed. She stood and went to go get her power suit on as Jillian asked, "Ok, what do we do now?"

"We don't do anything. You stay here, I go check it out. I don't know if there's any oxygen on this planet or not and I don't have an extra spacesuit, so sorry, but you're not coming this time. Too dangerous anyway."

"Aww man," Jillian grumbled and sat down in the cockpit as Samus emerged a few minutes later, fully armored.

"I don't know how long this will take Jillian, but I can guarantee your safety here. So stay put. If you get hungry use my replicator."

Jillian rolled her eyes slightly and muttered, "Yes ma'am," as Samus exited the ship.

The skies were filled with some type of electrical lightening, though it didn't seem to interfere with Samus's radar. The only thing that was interfering with anything was the damn snow blocking her vision. But she wasn't too worried because nothing was around, and cautiously made her way to the ship which had attacked hers earlier. Slowly she approached it, looking upon the back hull, and long spider like legs reaching out from it which it was sitting upon. She scanned it for life signs, but detected nothing. Only a small heat signature showed up in her infrared visor, and she checked the x-ray to find a door hidden beneath the snow, recently used. Making her way towards it, and opening it, she slowly looked inside to find some sort of elevator shaft as she looked for a way to activate it, and pressing a large red button on the wall, felt it shake some as it began to descend downwards.

Soon, she emerged into a room that had been dug out into the underground of the surface, and surprisingly enough, she found that there seemed to be a subterranean market going on. Neon lights lit up signs above small bars and shops, written in all types of alien and human languages. She stepped off the platform as a few people made their way by her and into a shop, sparing glances her way as if they weren't frightened of her, but curious as to who she was and why she was here.

Perhaps they were outcasts of society, simply living out their lives in an underground world away from the rest of society. In any case, Samus didn't care. She was only curious as to find out who the hell had attacked her and why. But where to start?

As she walked forward, she decided to check out one of the bars. Maybe she'd get a few leads there.

As the door opened, the smell of alcohol filled Samus's nose through her helmets vents, and she didn't particularly care for it too much. She liked to drink, yes, but she didn't like the smell of it.

Already attracting attention, she watched as a large man stood up and began walking towards her. She prepared herself for the worst and looked up at him, even at her height, watching as he came closer and closer until he spoke in a rough voice not even a mother could love," No weapons allowed. You're going to have to leave it outside, leave yourself, or I'm gonna have to throw you out."

"Is that so?" The warped voice spoke mockingly through the helmet. "Then I suppose I'm just going to have to show you what this weapon can do."

The barbaric looking creature, with a smell more foul than a rotting carcass, growled, "You'll sincerely regret it."

"I don't think so," the hunter mused as the beam charged, held straight at his head, particles of energy being sucked into the base of the canon like a vacuum.

Even that didn't seem to scare the creature as he grabbed the canon quickly while the blast went off, diverting it towards the ceiling. The hunter ripped it from his grip and drove the end of the hard gun into his gut, knocking the wind out of the man as he backed up and reached for the other arm, but was quickly avoided, and faster than he could track, ended up behind him with the canon pointed to his head, using the left arm to hold onto his back so that the helmet was level with the back of his head. Whispering into his ear, the warped voice sounding as if it were evil itself, "I have missiles in this canon, now, do you want me to test them out on you, or would you rather answer a few questions? Either way, I'll find out what I need to know, and I won't think twice about killing you."

"Alright...damn it, alright! I just needed to see what type of person you are, if you are a person. You're new around here and I run most things down here. So I have to lay down the laws."

"Do your laws include harboring renegade hunters?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I can see you're a hunter yourself. In fact you look like a very skilled hunter and I might have a job for you. I can pay very well."

"Save it for later, asshole, you run things down here, and I tracked a renegade hunters ship here, a ship that attacked mine, and I want answers, not in one second, **now**, or you're going to be short a brain and a head."

"Don't be like that, just let me explain. I don't know about any renegade hunters, no, but people always come and go here, the ones who know about this place anyway. If you want, I can lock down the elevator shaft, it's the only way in and out, that way you'll find who you're looking for."

Samus nodded, "Alright then. But do it now, if I can't find who I'm looking for, I'm coming back to see you," and she let go, stepping back from him, his mere stench about to make her sick.

He nodded and went off to do as he said he would, while Samus stepped out of the bar to watch him, just to make sure he did so. Soon, the clamps could be heard locking down on the shaft, and Samus diverted her attention to the people around, looking at each of them wondering if the renegades could be among them. Somehow, she doubted it though. Just then, she felt a surge of electricity hit her from behind. She cringed in pain and fell to her knees. Her visor was filled with static, and she knew she had to start moving otherwise she'd be shot again. Pushing herself forward, she turned around and looked back just as the visor cleared, seeing a man who looked as if he had all the money in the world. He was clean, well shaven, and carried a large gun with him, though not as big as hers.

Charging up her beam, she kicked a table over onto its side and let the blast off towards the man who'd shot her. She ducked down behind the table as another shot came her way and she groaned. She didn't want to kill him just yet, if at all possible, for she wanted to know what this was about, but she would kill him if she had to.

"I'm going to kill you Aran, I don't care how well equipped you are. Your day has been marked, and that is today!" she heard the man yell.

"Right, like I haven't heard that before," she muttered to herself and flipped to her x-ray visor to see through the table top, seeing that he was indeed approaching, yet slowly.

She only had one chance at this, otherwise she'd have to kill him, and she took it, standing quickly from behind the table and firing off three small bursts from her canon at his weapon and his leg. The first missed, as she didn't have time to aim, but the second two hit on target, the first hitting the weapon, causing it to overload and malfunction, the second hitting his leg, causing him to fall forward and hit the ground. His lack of armor was a huge weakness on his part. She watched him as he collapsed to his knees, yelling in agony and holding his leg where her blast had hit him.

She pushed herself up and walked over to him, lifting him up with her left arm and slamming him against a nearby wall. "Who wants me dead? Who sent you to kill me? You're too stupid to have wanted to kill me yourself."

The man cringed in fear and agony and, taking deep breaths, he said, "I don't know who they are, but they offered to pay me an enormous amount of money for your death, or capture, either way. Some sort of pirates or something."

Samus became even more enraged as the larger man, who led the underground market, came up behind them and listened. "I want to know exactly where and how they found you, every detail, from how much, to what you have eaten since then, EVERYTHING!"

Samus's grip tightened on his neck as he gasped for air. "I run all types of jobs for outlawed groups of the federation. I'm pretty well known in the underground world, and I was called on by these pirates to kill you. I've heard your name before, but I didn't know you were this damn advanced; otherwise I wouldn't have taken the job. They offered me ten thousand and paid me five thousand in advance."

"Where are they," Samus said calmly and held her gun to his head, saying if you don't tell me, you're dead.

"Not far from here, 10 light years. If you let me go to my ship I can get the coordinates."

"I don't think so. I think I'll kill you now and get them myself."

"No! Please! Here, take this, it will give you access to all my records and databases." He pulled a small card out of his pocket and handed it to her. She let him fall to the ground and picked it up, scanning it. It was a memory chip, something used often on older ships like his. She looked down at him and said, "I knew we could come to an agreement. Don't let me see your face again, because if I do, you won't have much of a face anymore, understood?"

The man nodded vigorously and started trying to tend to his wounded leg. Samus turned around to walk off only to be confronted by the large man who'd bothered her earlier.

"So you're the legendary Samus Aran? Word is there're bounties on your head all over the galaxy. Why are you so interested in this one?"

Samus looked at him blandly from behind the visor of her helmet and stated, "Because no one's ever been stupid enough to try and collect one of them before."

The barbaric looking man howled with laughter as Samus walked off, and he called out, "You're always welcome back Samus, if you ever need anything or want to know more about this place. I only hope this type of thing doesn't bring you back here next time, saying there is one."

"You never know, anything's possible." She found she actually kind of liked it here, besides the fact that she'd been attacked and everything. It seemed to be quiet, humble, and not at all decorated or fancy like most places she'd been. Plus it was hidden, and she knew that if she hadn't even heard of this place before, then it was hidden very well.

As she ascended the now open elevator, and exited to her ship, she found Jillian waiting inside for her. "That didn't take long. Did you get what you came for?"

"And then some," Samus replied removing her helmet and sticking the memory chip into her data banks to download the information. "Turns out they were sent by the Space Pirates."

"No shit!" Jillian exclaimed as Samus got her ship into the air, high enough to target the renegade's ship through her scopes and fire off a missile at it to destroy it once and for all. "I can't believe I didn't kill that bastard who was stupid enough to try to kill me. He's not in good condition though. And if I ever see him again, he's dead."

Jillian nodded her head at that, knowing Samus would be true to her words. As the data downloaded into the system, she took a look at it, plotting a course for Inia as she did so.

Reading the information, she found out that the man who tried to kill her was actually a pretty accomplished hunter in his own, unorthodox way of doing things. He'd collected on over 500 bounties, and counting, his name was Jerod Tagis. He was a 37-year-old man with a dead wife and child, killed while he was working as a policeman for the Galactic Federation. Since then, he quit his job and did work as a bounty hunter against the Federation because of his personal vendetta against them.

There were all sorts of information on the bounties he'd carried out and the people he'd carried them out for. The last was the Space Pirates and information on her. Finally it ended with this bounty not being complete. But it gave the coordinates of where he'd received the bounty from and how he'd been able to track her. That was the shock to Samus and she stood up quickly, facing Jillian, who looked at her in alarm. She'd read the information too.

"You're going home now, Jillian. No arguments. It's not safe with me any longer."

Jillian didn't argue, simply nodded fiercely and replied, "How far away is Inia from here?"

"An hour and a half in warp." Her voice seemed to trail off, and there were a few long quiet moments between them, only the sound of the ventilation system of Samus's helmet sounding as she drew breath. She wanted Jillian to be out of here. She wanted to be alone, totally alone. She walked to the doors of her small quarters and stepped inside, shutting them behind her. Jillian didn't follow, knowing better. It wasn't everyday you were betrayed by the Galactic Federation, and Samus had just been seriously deceived.

* * *

_Go ahead and review, tell me I'm an idiot or a blockhead, I wont be updating for probably a week so I won't see it until then. See if I care, this will just have to hold you over. _


	8. Honest Politicians

**Honest Politicians**

The hour and a half passed and Samus saw Jillian safely to her room. She did have second thoughts about leaving her there, but there was no way in hell she was taking Jillian with her. As a safety measure, Samus left Jillian with a large plasma rifle, one that, even though she hadn't used in several years, had been taken very good care of, and was enough to blow a hole through at least 3 people standing in a row, depending on the status it was set on. That put her mind at ease as she boarded her ship and set a course for Planet Margides again. She was heading to see the one person who'd literally placed a knife in her back and she was not going to let him get away with it so easily.

President Senning was about to see the wrath of Samus Aran. Her grip tightened on the arm of her chair until she heard the cling of it breaking off. How dare he mess with forces he didn't understand? How dare he!?

When Samus read how she had been tracked on Jerod Tagis's memory card, she couldn't believe it at first. It had to be a setup. But it was the Presidents authorization codes on the card itself. The only reason She knew was from the information she'd gathered on him over time.

As it turned out, he sent a signal to a bounty hunter, Jerod Tagis, a bounty hunter who, even though he hated the Galactic Federation, was willing to accept this mission because of first, the high amount of money involved, which was far more than 15 thousand, and second, because he'd been asked by the Space Pirates to do the job first. As it turns out, however, the Space Pirates had followed up incase he failed, and called a secret meeting with the Galactic Federation. There, they made an agreement that, with the destruction of Samus Aran, the Space Pirates would call all of their forces out of Federation space, and leave the Federation alone once and for all. Though Samus knew her death meant a lot to the Space Pirates, she highly doubted they would have backed their word, and she knew that the Galactic Federation was too stupid to realize that.

The one thing she didn't understand was why, if Tagis had been to this meeting, and President Senning knew he was working on the bounty, President Senning contacted him a day later to hire him for the job. It just didn't make sense, unless the President wanted to give him a higher price, and cause more motivation for the job's success. There were no conversation log on Tagis's memory chip however, no data giving any reason why he was contacted by the President the day after the meeting to be hired for the job. All it said was the date and that the president had officially hired him for the job himself.

Something was definitely amiss.

"Jon, get that report in to me as soon as possible, I don't care how long it takes, I just need that information," Senning said, speaking into the COM on his desk. It was late evening, a dark night with no moons. Planet Margides had three moons, and all of them were black this night. As black as the mood of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who stood outside the window on the ledge, looking in silently to the Presidents office. Cloaked in shadows and fueled by rage, she waited as 5 people in a row came in to talk to him, not one of them noticing the hunter waiting just outside the window.

As they talked, Samus thought for a minute what she would like to do to him, how she might like to kill him, but first how she would get the information she wanted from him. It didn't take long either after that for the people to leave, and the President to sit back and relax in his large leather chair. It was time.

Senning watched the ceiling for a second and was surprised when the lights went out. Just as he was reaching for his desk, he found that his COM had also powered down, and he felt something press against his chin, something cold, and slowly lift his head up. He heard a voice, very familiar, and knew exactly who was there. "Didn't expect me back so soon did you?"

"Damn it Aran, you scared the hell out of me. I thought you were off doing whatever it is you're doing when you're not working fo--"

"Shut up Senning, I'm not here on a visit, if you can't tell. I want to know something. It's a question I've been curious about since I was a small child, and considering recent events, I think you're just the man to answer that." She paused for a moment and everything got quiet, maybe it was just to give the president a second to comprehend what was going on and get his thoughts right. Or maybe it was just so she could find the right words. She continued. "Tell me when a conflict gets so bad you have to actually stab the ones who've helped you in the back just to get ahead?"

Senning turned his head slightly and looked towards the green glow of Samus's visor, a look of confusion all across his face. "I don't know what you mean, I--"

He shut up when Samus shoved her canon harder into his throat. "No, you do. Tell me, there's a name on the tip of my tongue that I think might get your attention. It's one you've heard rather recently. What was it again, Tagis maybe? Jerod Tagis? No, I must be mistaken. It couldn't have been a bounty hunter. Not you Senning, you're too pure of a soul."

Every word of her comment was drenched in a sarcasm so filled with hate that even the warped sound of her voice through her helmet couldn't hide it. Senning however, still didn't seem to know what she was talking about.

Finally Samus cut to the chase, "Why did you hire someone to kill me just to get the Space Pirates out of your hair?" She bent over and whispered into his ear maliciously, "You must know what a foul person I am when I'm lied to. Don't lie to me now Senning, because only the truth will set you_ free_."

The word free was slow and drawn out, as if to promise him something he couldn't comprehend. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He seriously didn't want to die, not now, not here, but he didn't know what to tell her. He had no clue what she was talking about. He would never hire a bounty hunter to kill her. First, he knew that would be foolish, plain and simple, the job would never get done, and second, he owed far too much to this hunter to even consider killing her.

"You're silence is not very convincing, Mr. President, and my patience is growing thin."

Senning stuttered, "S- Samus, I seriously have no clue what you're talking about. I'm scared beyond words right now, so believe me; I'd tell you anything I know. But I have nothing to tell, it's the honest truth!"

He jumped when her armored fist went into the table, breaking the wood surface, and she walked away from him, speaking, "Lights."

The room was illuminated suddenly, but the power wasn't restored. She had managed to get the power shut off to this room by overriding the system with her signal, and only she had the codes for it. Needless to say, the doors were locked, and she was the only one who could allow anyone in and out at the moment.

As the lights were restored, Senning found himself staring at the back of the towering hunter, who turned around slowly and reached up, slowly removing the helmet from her head, the exhaust making a hissing noise before it was removed, and revealing the face of a young woman who looked in her twenties, a face that could very well win beauty competitions, much less be secluded behind some robotic mask. Senning knew Samus Aran was a woman, though most didn't, but he'd never seen her face before. Her beauty actually startled him, and he couldn't help but wonder more about her, about her past, and what would lead a woman to such a life as the one she'd chosen.

"Senning, I'm running out of time, and so are you, though I'm afraid you've even less time than I." Her voice, surprisingly soft at the moment, spoke slowly, and she placed the memory chip upon the table, pulling up his COM for him and inserting it into the machine. The information began to flash across the screen before Senning's eyes. Samus began to speak once more as he watched the information flash across the screen, most of it centered on some kind of Hunter named Jerod Tagis. "Interesting isn't it? The fact that a man so cold and so vengeful against your federation could actually work for you when offered so much money isn't it. It shows how people _really _are in my opinion. Now, here comes my favorite part," she said as the information with the Presidents authorization code was brought onto the screen. "My, my, you gave my location to him didn't you? Oh, and you authorized this with your own codes. Look what we have here, I do believe this belongs to you," she said, pointing out the code to him and his very name, stating that he had hired the hunter himself one day after the meeting. "Now this is you very last chance Senning. I allowed you to see me, as I am, because I wanted you to know exactly who it was you've deceived and betrayed, and I wanted you to see for yourself my anger from my own eyes."

Senning looked up at her, seeing how deadly serious she was and took a deep breath. "It's a wrath I won't have to face Samus, thankfully. You have been wronged, but not by me. This "was" my code, but it was changed yesterday due to a detected security breach. This isn't my code anymore, and I didn't authorize any such thing as what is stated here. Put simply, I do believe I have been framed."

Samus's eyes glowed a dark blue as she turned her head away from him, "Then who on your senate knows enough to access your codes and use them against you, someone with a motive for your death, perhaps?"

Senning sat back, seeing now that her anger seemed not to be directed at him. Though that relaxed him some, the tension in the room hadn't let up any at all, and he spoke quietly, "Possibly all of them, but only a handful whom I don't trust as far as I can throw."

"Names damn it!," Samus yelled slamming her fist back through the table causing Senning to jump.

Suddenly words sounded in Samus's head as she stood up straight, ignoring the names the President started spitting out. _Who is this girl? We have no use for her here! _It was nothing more than a hunch, but Samus had learned to trust her instincts over the years, and she quickly looked down at the President. "Who is he," she asked interrupting him, "Who is the man who asked me the other day at my report of the activities on Zebes if I had become attached to the Metroid?"

The President thought back for a moment and remembered. "That's Senator Dagan. He's one of the ones I was going to name to you. He's always had a lust for power and the want to control what wasn't meant to be controlled, and to also do things in his own way, despite what it means to others."

Samus retrieved the chip from the COM and replaced her helmet, looking back down at the president. "Where can I find him?"

Just then, someone knocked on the door and yelled, "Mr. President, are you alright? You're door is locked and we heard some commotion."

"I'm fine," the president replied and looked at Samus who'd already made her way to the other side of the table. "He's not at his home right now, he's on a leave of absence, taking care of something personal, I don't know where, but I'm sure you can find it in his databanks." The president said and looked at her as if hinting at something. It seemed to Samus as if she would have to do a little bit of hacking.

Standing out on the ledge of the window again, she pulled her canon up to her arm and pressed a few buttons, the sound in the distance of a ship moving closer could be heard and she stepped off the window ledge and onto her ship. She looked back as the power was fully restored to the president's room and the doors opened, three men coming in and looking about to see if anything was wrong. The president calmed them for a moment and looked back, only to see that she had disappeared from sight.

"Long overdue," he spoke quietly to the space pirates surrounding him. "Too long, I'm afraid. Have we heard from our hired hunter yet?"

One of the pirates looked back at Dagan, yellow eyes flashing from a hideous looking face. He spoke in a low rough tone that sounded distorted, though it could still be recognized as English. "No, he hasn't, but if my calculations are correct, he won't be successful, and she'll track where he came from."

Dagan looked at the pirate angrily, "What do you mean he won't be successful! He had a partner with him, and both their ships were sent to attack Aran, there's no way she could have survived." He said stubbornly and turned, looking away from the pirate, who became very angry at the man's lack of experience with what they called "The Hunter".

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No, simply saying that Aran could not have survived an attack from two ships, especially not from such a skilled hunter as Tagis."

"You fool! You know nothing. The Hunter thwarted us several times in our efforts to create powerful armies and use the metroids to attack the Galactic Federation, and you think that those ships would have been any match for her!?"

Dagan turned around and returned the argument to the pirate, "Then tell me, if you knew so much, why you allowed Tagis to go after her?"

"Because it would bring her here. And we'll be ready for her. We already have something she doesn't want to fall in our hands so we have prepared a trap for The Hunter."

Dagan looked at him even more angrily, "Why wasn't I told of any of this!?"

"You're not the leader here; you don't have the need for knowledge. We kept our end of the bargain, you've kept yours, that's all that needs to be said and done."

Dagan simply raised his hand as if to wave the pirate off and left. The pirate turned to a comrade and made a motion with his head as the pirate nodded and took off to do what he was ordered to. With the destruction of Zebes, The Hunter had dabbled in their affairs for the last time.

* * *

_I appologize for the delay. These things take time._

_My current work in progress is_ _titled "He", but wont be up for awhile._

_If you are bored, check out "Rise" but please read the disclaimer first. _


	9. Stroids

_I know, really long update. It has been awhile. I wont try to do that again but I can't make any promises.  
__It is at this time that I would like to remind everyone that I am not the author, just the editor, for whatever that's worth.  
Don't ask me about the titles, they are mine and they are weird but they usually reference something in the story. If you don't get it ask someone because I probably won't remember (you can still ask me anyway). Also, try to reserve reviews to useful comments not just "LOLz i LUV yr Stry!! PLZ UPDATE!!". (No one has done that here, thankfully, but I have seen that elsewhere.)_

_**The :s leads to editor's notes at the bottom of the page, don't let them confuse you. **_

* * *

Stroids

The light shone down on the woman sitting there with her head bent forward resting on her knees, pulled into her chest. The metal on her skin, cybernetic implants and enhancements, glinted silver in the light. A black hand with only 3 fingers reached out and touched her shoulder, as she looked up at her Chozo father and smiled. The Chozo gave her a look of sympathy and said without seeming to speak, "Newborn, you are of your own flesh, but you are now of ours as well. Use this wisely, make it a part of yourself, and become more than what you are."

She nodded, still watching the birdlike creature. His hand was placed on her cheek as he spoke once more, "Speak not, or be in danger of failing, listen well, and succeed."

Once more she nodded as the figure seemed to disappear. In his place came the glowing green of her visor as she slowly opened her eyes and looked around at the waking world once again. She'd actually fallen asleep at the helm while the ship was in autopilot. Shaking her head, she wondered how long she'd slept as that didn't happen too often. The journey to the space station where Dagan had gone was at least an 18-hour trip, and she looked at the time. She'd taken a 5-hour nap. At least she'd rested, she thought, though not as comfortably as she could have.

"Computer, begin personal log entry."

"Accessing...please identify yourself."

"Samus Aran, code 21556738-b109-73736389102."

"Access granted. Please place your left hand onto the pad where designated."

An image of a hand appeared on the monitor screen. She placed her left hand on it, access would only be granted if she had her armor on and the hook ups were linked to her cybernetic implants beneath her skin.

"Accessing...Access granted Samus. Please begin your personal log now."

"Personal Log, star date 336-03-229. I find myself heading towards a space station named Delpha which is controlled by the Space Pirates. No doubt they have some sort of scheme going on there as always, but for once I find that I'm not heading there to confront them. Rather, I'm heading there to confront a man whom is collaborating with them against everything he is supposed to stand for. He is a traitor and a fool, and soon enough he will find that I am not so easily dispatched. Soon, Senator Dagan will know he was severely foolish and wrong to make the decisions he's made. As for the pirates he's collaborating with, they will once again taste my wrath. I believe they simply can't get enough of it.

I admit that perhaps President Senning is not the typical, ignorant, corrupt politician I once thought he was, though I must admit, he still makes me wonder from time to time.

On confrontation with the President concerning the recent accusation I made against him, I gathered enough information from him to take the next step in my investigation over the meaning behind my would be murderer's motivations. I know there are many people who would love nothing more than to see me in my grave, but it has never been acted on before, nor so outright and blatantly obvious. After my acquisition of information, I hacked into Senator Dagan's databanks, and even with my advanced technology, it took me three tries to get into his systems. But I found the information was well worth it. Though it did not give a roster of the activities taking place on the space station to which I am currently headed, it did give a detailed description of his activities for the past few months. It seems that President Senning was right about him, and all he cares about is power and control. Dagan thinks that Senning's workings towards neutralizing threats against the Galactic Federation is weak, slow, and doomed to failure. He believes if he doesn't take matters into his own hands, one way or another, the Galactic Federation will fall. So he sought an agreement with the Space Pirates that, upon delivering me dead to them, they would pull out all their forces in the Galactic Federation Space and leave them alone once and for all. It surprises me little that Dagan is foolish enough to believe the Space Pirates would keep their word.

So on the employment of a well known bounty hunter in the underground, and a partner who met his end when I blew his ship into nothing but scraps for the junk yard, I was sought out to be killed. I suppose, had I met my end, the Space Pirates would have simply killed Dagan and continued their work in the Federation's space. But somehow, I have the feeling that the Space Pirates knew that Tagis wouldn't be able to kill me, and that's where Dagan really comes into play in all of this. He set it up so that it would look like President Senning was trying to have me killed, that way I would kill the president, and he would be in the running for office as president. How this benefits the Space Pirates, I have no clue, unless with Dagan as president, he would actually legalize their efforts in Federation space or the like. Either way, they all deserve to die and I am just the person to see that it gets done."

After she finished putting her words into her personal log, she said, "End log," and flipped the small keypad out in front of her, typing some information onto her screen. She was trying to find out anything she could about the nearby planet of Syrus. Syrus was nothing more than a large gas giant, incapable of supporting any form of multicellular life, but she was curious as to what the composition of gas was that made up the planet.

Soon, a picture of Syrus flashed across one of her smaller monitors, and she watched as the computer told her about the planet.

"Planet Syrus. Class A Gas Giant. 7.5 million kilometers in diameter, the surface of this planet is composed of gases such as carbon monoxide **_:s_**, nitrogen, and hydrogen. Some traces of radiation found **_:s_**. Recommended safe distance from planet is 10 thousand kilometers. The core of Planet Syrus is of an unknown metal 30 times the size of Earth. The planets..."

"Computer, what type of radiation does the planet give off?"

"Analysis of planets radiation appears to be 95.7 Phazon Radiation, 6.9..." **_:s_**

She went off in thought when the computer told her the radiation was Phazon. "So that's why you're so near this planet," she mumbled to herself. Perhaps the Space Pirates had devised a way to collect the Phazon from the planet, or were working on it, and testing their solutions on the radiation from the planet itself. Then they could continue their work they had started on Tallon IV. "Computer, are there any asteroid fields near Syrus?"

"Affirmative."

She looked away from the monitor and to her view screen as she said, "Estimated arrival time?"

"5 minutes and 42 seconds."

"Engage cloaking device."

"Cloaking device enabled."

The orange gunship seemed to waver in appearance as it sped through space before vanishing completely. It was only a matter of time now.

"Any sign of The Hunter?"

The Space Pirate Commander asked one of the cadets. The cadet spoke, "Negative. No signs of The Hunter or The Hunter's ship."

Senator Dagan watched as the two conversed and the commander, an older pirate by the name of Eblin, turned to him. Eblin had supposedly survived two attacks from Samus Aran on planet Zebes and on Tallon IV. However he was not on Zebes when the planet was destroyed. Among all the pirates, Eblin probably hated Aran the most, and he would love nothing more than to have her enslaved and tortured. Dagan knew this, and was pleased that Space Pirate High Command had placed him in charge of this operation. Eblin was pleased with that as well. He had never seen anything but pictures of The Hunter, he'd never engaged in battle with her, but from reports and studies of her methods and attack patterns, he was highly confident in his ability to withstand anything she threw at him. He spoke to Dagan, "Is the girl in place?"

Dagan nodded, "Yes, she is just where you requested she be. The metroids we unleash may not stop Aran, but they will slow her down."

"They'll do their job. Cadet, inform me of any scans you pick up out of the ordinary."

"Yes sir," he said and continued working.

* * *

_**The :s section **(asterisks don't stay)_

_There is no surface in a gas giant (unless you mean the core)_

_The compound **CO** is just that, a compound, it wouldn't be found in detectable quantities_

_It is also almost as heavy as **CO2**, which is very heavy for a gas, and wouldn't be found on the so called "surface" of this gas planet_

_How do you find "traces" of radiation? You either find radiation or you don't. _

_With these so called "traces" you wouldn't need to be 10,000 km away from the "surface" of the planet. _

_Nuff said, not my story._


End file.
